The Last Wave
by Gillian Best
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Pub Date 4 May 2017 | Archive Date 8 Mar 2022
Description
Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections set on the South Coast on England, where the nuclear family explodes.
A beautifully rendered family drama set in England between the 1940s and the present, following the life of Martha, a woman who has swum the English Channel ten times, and the complex relationships she has with her husband, her children and her close friends.
The one constant in Martha’s life is the sea, which offers an escape from her responsibilities as a wife and a mother, consolation when she becomes ill and comfort when her husband succumbs to dementia.
The Last Wave is a wholly authentic, tragicomic portrait of family life as it is buffeted by sickness, intolerance, anger, failure and regret. This mature and compelling new voice offers a novel soaked in empathy and salt water.
Advance Praise
‘As in the sea so in life, we are sometimes submerged and fight to rise, sometimes carried and lifted by others to less shifting ground. In this deftly-woven and haunting debut novel, Gillian Best brings us, in many voices and across and through time, those who are submerged and carried, who fight and rise.’ Tania Hershman, author of Some of Us Glow More Than Others and My Mother Was An Upright Piano
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781911332329 |
| PRICE | 9.99 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Elyse W, Reviewer
I was immediately drawn to "The Last Wave" for several reasons:
....The title made me feel good
....The book cover made me feel good
and....
....I love the water, the beaches....the smells and sound at the beach... the sand. All those 'beach' feelings I get when just walking along the waters edge for miles alone, or the exuberant way my body feels when I swim in the ocean.
.....most: This book takes place in England...giving me a hunch the 'emphasis' would not be on 'grazin-in-the-sun', ice cream cones, or beach parties.
On one hand, this is a story that centers around Martha, her relationship with the sea, and her family. A tragic-comic story - spanning many years - (1940's to present days; interchanging narrators), with her husband John, who is crumbling with Alzheimer's, the children Harriet and Ian, each with their issues, Martha's parents, (they have issues) and close friends.
On the other hand it's a story that centers around the 'sea' and Martha's beach surroundings. the solitude...( an empty beach)....pebbles, stones, rocks, the surf.... shallow waves, large waves, white cliffs, black night sky, dark sea, and jet engine sounds coming from the sea. The water could be unpredictable and could change quickly.
The 'sea' became a main character for me. I could taste the salt, feel the chill in the air, and feel the power of the water. The sea had movement --currents changing.....we can't control what it's going to do. There are also many things in life we can't control ....so I was always looking at the family - the tragedies through the eyes of the sea. "It was a mackerel sky that evening. The clouds were lit from underneath in a blood red hue and the sun bloomed pink like my myrtle blossoms. I felt that somehow
the sea - my sea -knew about my diagnosis and was trying to console me".
It was the sea that gave Martha strength. When her body moved through the water, she let the water cradle her, and most she felt free....'freedom'.....swimming in the wide open ocean.
Martha went on the swim the English Channel ten times. She did die of cancer. Her husband John was disoriented, lonely, loss, and childlike. But author Gillian Best never
strayed into the sentiment. I laughed and smiled many times.
Lots of symbolism throughout the storytelling between the complexities of this family unit and the ocean. "I knew the tide was coming to greet me, as though I were a long last friend".
There's an elegance about this novel.... quiet, allowing for the waves to have a voice.
Thank You Freight Books, Netgalley, and Gillian Best
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