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Sunshine, secrets, and swoon-worthy stories—June's featured reads are your perfect summer escape.

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He doesn�t need a woman in his life; she knows he can�t live without her.


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A promise rekindled. A secret revealed. A second chance at the family they never had.


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A cowboy with a second chance. A waitress with a hidden gift. And a small town where love paints a brand-new beginning.


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She�s racing for a prize. He�s dodging romance. Together, they might just cross the finish line to love.


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She steals from the mob for justice. He�s the FBI agent who could take her down�or fall for her instead.


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He�s her only protection. She�s carrying his child. Together, they must outwit a killer before time runs out.


The Story Of Land And Sea

The Story Of Land And Sea, September 2014
by Katy Simpson Smith

Harper
256 pages
ISBN: 0062335944
EAN: 9780062335944
Kindle: B00HYMCJBU
Hardcover / e-Book
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"A Sad Tale set in 18th Century America"

Fresh Fiction Review

The Story Of Land And Sea
Katy Simpson Smith

Reviewed by Melissa Beck
Posted November 26, 2014

Historical

I think THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA is one of the saddest books I have ever read. John is a widower and is trying to raise his ten year old daughter, Tabitha, in the shoreline town of Beaufort in North Carolina. When his daughter, Tabitha, becomes gravely ill with yellow fever, he will try anything to save her life. John believes that the sea can heal his daughter so he boards a ship bound for the Caribbean in the hopes that exposure to some fresh air will cure his child. This part of the story, with a single father dealing with a sick child, was profoundly sad. The second part of the story flashes back to John's wife, Helen, and her early life as she is also raised by a single father. Helen's own mother died in childbirth and her father, Asa, struggles to nurture and provide for his only child. John meets Helen when his Revolutionary War regiment is stationed near her home in North Carolina. Although Asa does not approve of Helen and John's marriage, the two men eventually reach a state of mutual understanding and respect. Each of them has been widowed and is trying to raise a child. One of the peculiar parts of the story is Helen's relationship with a slave named Moll. When Helen is ten years old her father gives Moll as a gift. Helen and Moll grow up together and the lines between slave and owner are blurred. The two women act more like siblings than as servant and owner as they play together, fight and share secrets. I was surprised that some of Moll's poor attitude was tolerated by Helen and her father. The final part of THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA describes Asa and John's grief and the different ways in which they deal with their loss. Asa essentially becomes a recluse and cuts himself off from most of society and John heads out west for a change of scenery. THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA has a melancholy tone throughout the story. It serves to remind us that, at least in the 18th century, life can be cruel without any glimmer of hope.

Learn more about The Story Of Land And Sea

SUMMARY

Set in a small coastal town in North Carolina during the waning years of the American Revolution, this incandescent debut novel follows three generations of family—fathers and daughters, mother and son, master and slave, characters who yearn for redemption amidst a heady brew of war, kidnapping, slavery, and love. Drawn to the ocean, ten-year-old Tabitha wanders the marshes of her small coastal village and listens to her father’s stories about his pirate voyages and the mother she never knew. Since the loss of his wife Helen, John has remained land-bound for their daughter, but when Tab contracts yellow fever, he turns to the sea once more. Desperate to save his daughter, he takes her aboard a sloop bound for Bermuda, hoping the salt air will heal her. Years before, Helen herself was raised by a widowed father. Asa, the devout owner of a small plantation, gives his daughter a young slave named Moll for her tenth birthday. Left largely on their own, Helen and Moll develop a close but uneasy companionship. Helen gradually takes over the running of the plantation as the girls grow up, but when she meets John, the pirate turned Continental soldier, she flouts convention and her father’s wishes by falling in love. Moll, meanwhile, is forced into marriage with a stranger. Her only solace is her son, Davy, whom she will protect with a passion that defies the bounds of slavery. In this elegant, evocative, and haunting debut, Katy Simpson Smith captures the singular love between parent and child, the devastation of love lost, and the lonely paths we travel in the name of renewal.


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