such a rewarding story, three women so different in age, background, situation develop the most amazing relationship amongst one another, and adventure to boot. We experience emotion and frustration through the beautifully written prose and brilliant weaving of plot. ( )

intriguing characters; you come to care about these 3 women of different generation sharing a houseboat and learning from each other.

This was my first Coomer but definitely not my last. ( )

archeologist, pregnant teen & widow live/hide on boat

6.97 ( )

'I came across a love of moving water kneeling in the current of Caudel Run, the small creek behind our home in Kentucky, whose waters were as clear and cold as my fear, falling over black ledges of slate, gatheing in white sluices of anguish, numbing my feet, blueing the skin. I could hold the water in my hands and bring it to my mouth.' -From Beachcoming for a Shipwrecked God, page 8 -

When Charlotte's husband dies suddenly, she flees from her home in Kentucky to New Hampshire to escape her memories and her overbearing in-laws. There she meets Grace - an elderly woman with a sharp wit and an uncanny ability to fool others with her realistic paintings - and Chloe, a seventeen year old girl who battles a weight problem and an abusive boyfriend. It doesn't take Charlotte long to join an archeological dig and begin to uncover secrets from the past.

Coomer combines a love of the water with archeological details to establish a setting which draws the reader in. He creates characters who thrum with life. Weaving through the story line is the idea of creating a life - past, present and future. Charlotte wishes to escape her memories and bury her past; for Grace going "to Heaven without my memory" is unthinkable; for Chloe, just starting out, the future is full of memories to be made.

At times, the novel stumbles and becomes too predictable, but Coomer rights it quickly and takes the reader to a satisfying conclusion.

Recommended. ( )