At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen, new by Sara Gruen, is billed as thrilling. Well, it’s a great read, but not a thrilling read in the traditionally “thrilling” sense. Set towards the end of WWII in the Highlands of Scotland, At the Water’s Edge, is the story of Maddy, her husband Ellis and friend Hank, who set off on a lark to photograph the Loch Ness monster.
Water’s Edge is, ultimately, a romantic tale, but also a story of greed, abuse, the Great War, and deceit. Ellis and Hank are found unfit for combat (flat feet and color blindness). To make themselves better and in some weird way, redeem their pride for not serving their country, they decide to document the Loch Ness monster on film to prove it really exists. Their pride is at stake; they look like able bodied men, yet they are still at home and not at the front. It eats at their self-worth, particularly Ellis’s, and causes their uber wealthy families embarrassment.
The journey from America to Scotland is fraught with danger. U-boats patrol the Atlantic and while they are not targeted, they are forced to take on wounded soldiers whose boat was torpedoed. It is their first face to face encounter with the horrors of war. The story continues, a bit slowly at times, at a hotel in the Highlands of Scotland. More or less abandoned by Ellis and Hank, Maddy friends the locals, especially the handsome Captain Grant, proprietor of the hotel, and a man with a secret. Unhappiness bubbles dangerously below the surface and spills over in a very messy way. True love will win, and it does, but it’s a bumpy ride. A very nice historical read, well-developed characters and setting. You won’t regret reading it.
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