Product Description

On the night their mother drowns, sisters Marnie and Diana Maitland discover there is more than one kind of death. There is the death of innocence, of love, and of hope. Each sister harbors a secret about that night-secrets that will erode their lives as they grow into adulthood.

After ten years of silence between the sisters, Marnie is called back to the South Carolina Lowcountry by Diana's ex-husband, Quinn. His young son has returned from a sailing trip with his emotionally unstable mother, and he is refusing to speak. In order to help the traumatized boy, Marnie must reopen old wounds and bring the darkest memories of their past to the surface. And she must confront Diana, before they all go under.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36797 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 315 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780451223036
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
The enduring ties between two estranged sisters drive the darkly engaging latest from White (Learning to Breathe). Marnie Maitland, an Arizona school teacher, returns to her South Carolina Lowcountry hometown after a 10-year absence at the request of Quinn, the ex-husband of Marnie's sister, Diana. Quinn believes Marnie can help Gil, the nine-year-old nephew she's never met, who has refused to speak since a sailing accident almost claimed Gil and Diana's lives. As Marnie begins to bond with Gil (and with Quinn), she instinctively senses that Diana's simmering anger toward her is tied to the childhood sailing accident that killed their mother but spared the two girls. Marnie remembers little of the accident, which is cloaked in mystery, as is Diana's obsession with the Maitland curse (related to a murky blasphemy from previous generations) and the mental illness that runs in the family. As Marnie tries to get at the truth, the first-person narrative is tersely handed among the four leads. Careful plotting, richly flawed characters and a surprising conclusion mark this absorbing melodrama. (Mar.)
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From Booklist
Marnie Maitland returns to the South Carolina Lowcountry after years of self-imposed exile. As children, she and her sister, Diana, were deeply damaged when their mother took them sailing in a storm and drowned. Now Diana’s son is left mute after an eerily similar accident. Marnie, a special-needs teacher, has come to help her nephew recover. Faced with the evidence that her sister has inherited their mother’s self-destructive illness, Marnie is forced to remember that terrifying night and to reconcile the rift their mother created. In this moving novel, White explores the bond between sisters, the link between artistic genius and mental illness, and the keen hold a place can have on a person. She vividly describes the lush Lowcountry and the pull of the sea. A chilling revelation, a love story, and a bittersweet ending add to this gripping tale. --Aleksandra Walker

Review
"...darkly engaging...Careful plotting, richly flawed characters and a surprising conclusion mark this absorbing melodrama." -- Publishers Weekly, January 14, 2008

"...this story is as rich as its South Carolina Lowcountry setting and filled with sympathetic, endearing characters that reasonate. It's an engaging, deeply moving story." -- TOP PICK, 4 1/2 stars, RT BookReviews Magazine

"Beautifully writen and as lyrical as the tides, THE MEMORY OF WATER speaks directly to the heart and will linger in your long after you've read the final page. I loved this book!" -- Susan Crandall, Award-winning Author

"Karen White delivers a powerfully emotional blend of family secrets, Low Country lore, and love in MEMORY OF WATER--who could ask for more?" -- Barbara Bretton, USA Today Bestselling Author

Customer Reviews

One of the best I have read this year...
What a pleasure to read a novel that has it all together - characters that are real and easy to see, a setting that draws you in and wants to keep you there, and a plot that keeps you wondering right up to the last minute. This was not a book I plowed through at breakneck speed. I was savoring it too much - it's one of those ones you really don't want to end. The surprising thing I learned when I completed the book was that Karen White doesn't live anywhere near the water - and she has never sailed! You will swear that she is sitting in an oceanfront cottage writing this story - with her sailboat tied to her dock. Bravo, Karen, for all your research. The rich detail of the characters, home, town and sailing experience, is perfection!

Karen has a wonderful facility for leaving a trail of information that eventually adds up to a plausible conclusion. I love those "Aha!" moments and the pleasant re-thinking one goes through as the pieces fall into place. This is my first Karen White book, so I now have the pleasure of looking forward to reading the others!

A Haunting tale
When I read Karen White's The Memory of Water it was like watching an artist paint, with every word she writes you can actually see the landscape she describes come to life.
It was a haunting tale of mental illness and about those who survive it and those who don't.
A bewitching tale of love and loss and love found at last, about the story of sisters and a love that only sisters can share and understand.
This book is a must read for any of you out there that love great fiction.

Amazing Family Drama
Marnie Matlaind returns to her Lowcountry birthplace after being gone for a decade to help in the healing of her traumatized nine-year old nephew she's never met.

At her return, Marnie is forced to face the demons of her childhood, the drowning death of her mother, and the Maitland curse that has haunted her family for generations.

White uses first person narrative with each of the four main characters. This allows the reader to see different angles of the story. The characters are quite real and believable, as is the anguish that each feels due to the mental instability that seems to have been passed down through the Maitland family.

A suprising ending answers several unknowns and brings an amazing and powerful conclusion to this family drama.