Review: Sea Changes by Gail Graham

When Sarah's husband dies unexpectedly, Sarah feels as though her life has ended too. Lost in her grief, Sarah becomes numb to the world around her. Her daughter nags at her to get on with her life, but Sarah just can't seem to find the desire to do so. Eventually, thinking she has nothing left to live for, she decides to swim out in the ocean and die.

Things don't work out exactly the way Sarah planned. Instead of drowning, she finds herself in the middle of an underwater civilization, where she meets Bantryd and her uncle Xaxanader. Bantryd asks Sarah to take her back to the above-water world and Sarah agrees. It turns out that Bantryd is a dead ringer for a missing heiress, and life starts to get extremely complicated...

When I started this book I wasn't sure I would like it. It has a very mellow feel to it and took me a little while to get into the story. But once the story really got started, I loved it. I loved the whole undersea world concept, and the way the people who lived there were described. The descriptions in this book in general are fantastic; you'll want to linger over them.

This book, in case I didn't mention it, is set in Australia, and there are lots of insights on the culture. Sarah, an American, does not enjoy living in Australia, and does not approve of her daughter, Felicity, who has grown up an Australian. Not that I can blame her. Felicity is a shrew, harping on her mother to get over her grief and get on with her life. The interaction between the two of them gives Sea Changes a lot of interest.

I enjoyed the way that the very style of the writing managed to convey Sarah's slow transformation from the numbness of grief to an awakening desire to live. It's hard to describe, but the early parts of the story almost have a muffled quality that poignantly conveys Sarah's emotional state. It's like listening to someone talk about themselves in the third person.

"Sarah found herself moving the box of ashes uneasily from room to room, trying- she knows how this sounds- to make it comfortable."

Later on in the story, you can almost feel Sarah starting to take an interest again, like coming up from the water. The book as a whole has a very dreamlike quality about it. I was constantly wondering how much of what was going on was real. Even when the events of the book get very exciting, it maintained a certain mellow quality.

My final word: 4 out of 5. This lyrical novel conveys incredible emotional depth within a fascinating storyline.

Tune in Wednesday for a Q&A with Gail Graham, author of Sea Changes!
Website for Gail Graham.
Click the book cover image to purchase from Amazon.

I learned a new word from this book! Chthonic (adj.): of or pertaining to the deities, spirits, and other beings dwelling under the earth.