A cast of deeply wounded souls struggles with devastating losses in Message in the Sand, a gripping, heart-wrenching novel of domestic fiction by Hannah McKinnon.
The novel is set at White Pines, a sprawling, idyllic estate nestled in the woods and wetlands of bucolic Saybrook, Conn. The Lancaster family--a loving husband and wife and their two daughters, Julia, age 15, and Pippa, age six--own the estate managed by Wendell Combs, a 39-year-old loner. Wendell is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan suffering PTSD. Having lost both his parents and his brother, who died in the war, Wendell, in turmoil, walks away from a long-term romantic relationship. However, the kindness of the Lancasters and his work at White Pines bring him a sense of purpose, pride and peace.
When the Lancaster parents die unexpectedly, the lives of Julia, Pippa and Wendell are turned upside-down--even more so when the estranged Aunt Candace becomes the girls' legal guardian. When Candace decides to sell White Pines and take Julia and Pippa to live with her in London, the girls put up a determined, calculated fight. As an emotional tug of war rages, the gentle, familiar presence of Wendell becomes a stabilizing force for Julia and Pippa. This bond, however, drives a wedge between conflicting interests in figuring out what is truly best for the girls and their futures.
Marked by evocative prose and revealing, layered insights, McKinnon (The View from Here; The Summer House) sensitively maps a host of multi-faceted emotional issues for all involved. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines