SERENDIPITOUS TUESDAYS: INTROS/TEASERS – “SEA CREATURES”

 

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Today’s featured book is an ARC I’m starting in the next day or so:  Sea Creatures, by Susanna Daniel.  I just finished reading another fabulous book by this author today, called Stiltsville (my review), so I am eager to dive into this one.

 

 

Intro:  It was my husband Graham’s idea to buy the houseboat.  The notion took shape on the first leg of our move from Illinois to Miami, between pulling away from the cottage in Round Lake and stopping at the county fair outside of Peoria, where we urged our three-year-old, Frankie, into a gargantuan bouncy castle.  For a few minutes Frankie seemed to take some pleasure in jumping haphazardly among strangers, until he remembered that he didn’t like strangers, and staggered lock-kneed toward the exit.  I mention this interlude in the long drive for one reason:  a few minutes after we walked away from the enormous cartoonish castle, a gust of wind upended it, bouncing children and all.  Ambulances arrived quickly.  As we stood among the anxious crowd, I thought—not for the first time and not for the last—that to be a parent is terrifying.  Graham once told me how the stoics practiced imagining their own worst fears had come to pass, to make peace.  But it seems to me that what worries us most—pedophiles, kidnappers, dog attacks—is least likely to happen, while what is most likely is some unimagined event.  And how do we prepare for that?

***

Teaser:  Graham had a way of zeroing in on exactly what made history interesting.  Being a tourist with him was like traveling with your best high school teacher, the one who put down the textbook and relayed some bit of trivia that brought an entire era to life  (p. 117)

***

Blurb:  In Sea Creatures, a riveting domestic drama by Susanna Daniel, a mother must make the unthinkable choice between her husband and her son.

When Georgia Qullian returns to her hometown of Miami, her toddler and husband in tow, she is hoping for a fresh start. They have left Illinois trailing scandal and disappointment in their wake, fallout from her husband’s severe sleep disorder. For months, their three-year-old son has refused to speak a word.

On a whim, Georgia takes a job as an errand runner for a reclusive artist and is surprised at how her life changes dramatically. But soon the family’s challenges return, more complicated than before. Late that summer, as a hurricane bears down on South Florida, Georgia must face the fact that her decisions have put her only child in grave danger.

Sea Creatures is a mesmerizing exploration of the high stakes of marriage and parenthood.

.***

What I love about this author is her talent for picking out the ordinary moments in life and rendering them poignant.  Would you keep reading?  I know I can’t wait!