The Silver Boat: Book review and wrap-up post for the "What's in a Name" challenge

By Luanne Rice

From the book jacket:

Three far-flung sisters … come home to Martha’s Vineyard one last time to say good-bye to the family beach house. Memories of their grandmother, mother, and their Irish father, who sailed away the year Dar, the oldest, turned twelve, rise up and expose the fine cracks in their family myth—especially when a cache of old letters reveals enough truth to send them back to their ancestral homeland. Transplanted into the unfamiliar, each sister sees life, her heart, and her relationship to home in a new way.

Just my opinion:

I really enjoy this new style I’m finding in books that deals with relationships and The Silver Boat is right up there on the top of the list. This is the story of three sisters who are each, in their own way, dealing with the death of their mother. They have come together to clear out their mother’s house, a place they tended to gather at certain times each year as a family. After all, they grew up in the house and lived there when their father left to sail solo across the Atlantic to find his heritage in Ireland. They were merely children at the time and didn’t understand the emotional intricacies that led their father back to his homeland.

It’s a wonderful story of learning to accept loss and move on with their own lives, yet they must also find ways to continue the close-knit relationships with each other. After all, they only have each other left.

However, in order to deal with the death of their mother, they must also find out what happened to their father all those years ago. The only way to do that is a pilgrimage – of sorts – to Ireland in search of any clues as to what became of him. It’s a journey that will either bring them closer together or pull them apart.

Luanne Rice is one of my favorite authors. She has such an easy style of writing. When you open one of her books, it’s time to put your feet up and sip a cup of tea while reading through the delicate words on each page. These are books that are difficult to put down and a part of you will be somewhat sad to see the stories end.

If you haven’t read any of Luanne’s books, this new one is a good place to start. It’s a pleasant summer read, so you may want to put a copy in your tote bag for a trip to the beach. It’s a wonderful story and I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

Some favorite passages from the book:

Illness and death were two levels of loss; disappearance without explanation was another.

Dreaming of new places was one thing, but actually leaving was another.

A house was nothing but boards, shingles, bricks, mortar. A structure, inanimate and impermanent.

The ocean never stays still; the wind won’t let it.

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Also, with this review, I have completed the "What's in a Name" reading challenge. These are the books I read and the links to my reviews:

1. Number: E=MC2 by Jeff Stewart

2. Jewelry or gem: The Silver Boat by Luanne Rice

3. Size: Too Rich and Too Thin by Barbara DeShong

4. Travel or movement: Finding Frances by Janice M. Van Dyck

5. Evil: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

6. Life stage: Montana, Mistletoe, Marriage by Patricia Thayer and Donna Alward

 

It was a lot of fun finding books that fit into each category and I plan to take part again next year!