Sea Creatures

A Novel

By: Susanna Daniel

Narrated by: Karen White

When Georgia Quillian returns to her hometown of Miami, her husband, Graham, and their young son in tow, she is hoping for a fresh start. The family has fled Illinois trailing scandal and disappointment, the fallout from Graham's severe sleep disorder and Georgia's failed business. To make matters worse, their charming three-year-old son, Frankie, has for months refused to speak a word.

Although Georgia is still grieving her mother's death from five years earlier, her father and stepmother offer warm welcome—and a slip for the dilapidated houseboat Georgia and Graham have chosen to call home. On a lark, Georgia takes a job as an errand runner for a reclusive artist who lives in the middle of the bay, and she soon finds that time spent with the intense hermit might help Frankie find the courage to speak, and might also help her reconcile the woman she was with the woman she has become.

But when Graham leaves to work on a research vessel in Hurricane Alley, and the truth behind Frankie's mutism is revealed, the family's challenges return, more complicated than before. As a hurricane bears down on South Florida later that summer, Georgia must face the fact that her choices have put her only child in grave danger.

Sea Creatures is a mesmerizing exploration of the high stakes of marriage and parenthood, the story of a woman forced to choose between her husband, her child, and the possibility of new love.

Seriously? "Carved a rut in your heart?"

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

So full of sophomoric aphorisms and her references to American Sign Language were totally off--she was not using A.S.L., she was gesturing, using signs--not 'speaking' to her child with A.S.L. This is misleading to readers--especially those unfamiliar with the language

What was most disappointing about Susanna Daniel’s story?

I was disappointed by her reliance on the trite.

Would you be willing to try another one of Karen White’s performances?

The narrator? Her voice added to the misery.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointed that the author did not research more into A.S.L.