Sea Changes [Paperback]

It would be easy to classify this book as "chick lit." However, that kind of classification would be inappropriate and fails to provide any guidance as to the nature of this book and how well written it is. I found this book difficult to put down, and the last half of the book was really difficult to put down. Simply, this book is intriguing, interesting, and well written.

Sarah Andrews leads a depressed, boring life. Her husband passed away two months ago and she wanders around Bondi Junction in Australia, still in shock. Sarah has a daughter and a son, but the daughter is greedy and self-centered and her son works on an isolated oil platform; neither is there to comfort her. Sarah does not want her son to give up his career for her, and her daughter is a source of turmoil rather than solace. Sarah is seeing a psychologist, but while he is helping her in some ways, that help is also leading Sarah in a self-destructive direction.

Sarah eventually comes to believe that her life is over. She swims into the ocean, having carefully planned how she will become a missing person. To her surprise, she hears the voice of a young girl, who wants Sarah to follow her, deep into the ocean.

Sarah is intrigued that she is able to breathe. Sarah is even more intrigued to discover that there are people living under the ocean and they can read minds and emotions. Yet, after Sarah returns to the beach, we must wonder, was she drowning and dreamed the world of Bantryd, the girl who rescued her, and Xaxanader, the intriguing and handsome man she met there?

Author Graham leaves us to wonder a while longer as Sarah tries to make sense of her experience. Fortunately, our wondering does not last long, as Sarah decides to return to the undersea world, if she was indeed there. Sarah dives once again about where she did before, and she (and we) wonders whether she has made a mistake. Fortunately, because she might have drowned for real this time, she indeed meets Xaxanader and Bantryd again. Alternatively, at least she thinks she does.

This time Sarah learns more about how the people under the sea came to be and how they live. Sarah decides to return to the surface world, but Bantryd asks Sarah to take her to the surface world as well so that she might find her missing mother. Sarah agrees, but taking a naked girl completely unfamiliar with the customs of the surface world causes unexpected problems for Sarah, and for others, and Gail Graham's story becomes more complicated.

Danger suddenly fills Sarah's staid, boring life and there is a risk that she might end up in jail. The events that follow after Sarah believes she has returned from her second trip to the underwater world again made me wonder whether Sarah had a grip on reality. Did Bantryd really exist or was it possible that she was actually a missing heir?

Sarah becomes a different person as circumstances force her to think of someone other than herself. The question is, is that different person someone who presents a danger to others, and possibly even to herself? Regardless of whether Sarah is sane, she seems to find a purpose in her life, even as her Daughter and her psychologist think she may have committed a terrible crime.

I found the end of this book delightful, intriguing and fun. Gail Graham's prose kept me interesting to the very last word. Indeed, I was sad the book was finished and wished there was more to read.

Looking back, it was more than just the story that I found interesting. Graham wrote the story in a way that lent the story an almost surreal feeling. It was as though Sarah's grief and shock were palpable, and I walked through the same fog that Sarah walked through. As Sarah began to overcome her grief and the fog began to clear, Graham's writing seemed to come into focus and the fog lifted. The experience of reading such adroitly executed prose in addition to the interesting and well-plotted story made this much more than reading a book; it became an event.

Each book is its own experience. Some books rely on a strong story. Others rely on atmosphere and description. Every time I pick up a book, I always hope that the book will be exciting and satisfying. This book was all that and more. I will remember this book for a long time.

Enjoy!

Sea Changes by Gail Graham is one of those books that is not adequately represented by a short description. After reading the blurb, you might be thinking -- what??? An impossible alternate world?

Yes, the plot of this book deals with mermaid-type people who live under water, and Sarah's ability to survive with them down there because she's a "vestigant" able to breathe both air and water. She loses track of time while under the sea, and when she brings one of the water-people back with her, she ends up involved in a murder investigation.

Though it sounds that way, this really isn't classic fantasy. Yes, there are obviously elements and plot lines right out of the fantasy genre, but at the heart this is a story about a mother and a daughter, a woman looking for a second chance (and as an interesting setting, an American woman who has lived in Australia for many years).

Sarah ends up having to choose -- her real life, versus the fantasy life under the sea which makes her feel safe and secure. But as the book progresses, the reader wonders "Is it real?" When Sarah is linked to a missing heiress, her recent peculiar behavior testifies against her innocence, and once again the reader asks "Is everything as it seems? Can it be as it seems?"

Fantasy, Who Done It, Relationships, Exotic Setting -- Sea Changes is a great genre-buster. If you like any of these genres, I'd recommend you giving this novel a try.

What a beautiful novel. Touching, heartwarming, with touches of fantasy and comedy. Graham is a true talent. And her DrivingChairmanBao blog shows the hysterically funny side of this very witty writer.