At Sea

"When Cara and Brendan first meet, she's fresh out of college with a degree in the fine arts, recovering from the recent death of her mother and spending time on Martha's Vineyard while trying to figure out her next steps. She's swept away by Brendan's humor and charm and intoxicated by his thrilling, dangerous secret. He claims -- no, he insists -- that he can breathe underwater. He shows Cara his gills. He dives beneath the waves and doesn't emerge for many minutes at a time. He offers her the most plausible of explanations: that he is a member of the United State's Army Special Forces and has undergone top-secret experimental surgery. And Cara, struck by the force of his devotion, by his unstoppable charisma, and most of all, by the casual truth of his claim, believes him. Their summer romance quickly turns serious. And then Cara gets pregnant. She and Brendan move into a house he buys for them, and when their son, Micah, is born, she is sure their happy ending is underway. Still, she is forced to contend with Brendan's dramatic moods, and struggles to overlook his unexplained disappearances and the weight of his dangerous secrets. She knows it must be PTSD. The trauma of war. The desperate, tragic memories that scar all soldiers. Cara is determined to stay strong for her young family, to heal Brendan's psychic wounds, to keep him safe. Until he and baby Micah seemingly vanish into thin air -- or deep water. Five years later, Cara is still struggling to move forward, married to another man and trying to rebuild her life, when a local fisherman announces he's spotted a man and small child treading water in Nantucket Sound. The news rekindles Cara's never-abandoned hope that her child may still be alive. As she fights to untangle delusion from reality, and revisits a past she's worked hard to reconcile, she's determined to learn the truth about her lost love and finally find her son"--
Becoming pregnant after a summer fling with a man who claims he can breathe underwater as part of an experimental Special Forces unit, Cara is desolate and questioning everything she believes when Brendan takes their son and vanishes.
“Moving and immersive...truly compelling.” —Marjan Kamali, nationally bestselling author of The Stationery Shop What happens when the man you love most in the world—who may be lying about everything—unexpectedly disappears and takes your small child with him? Emma Fedor’s riveting and powerful debut explores the fierceness of first love and how far one woman will go to learn the painful truth about her family.When Cara and Brendan first meet, she’s fresh out of college, recovering from the recent death of her mother, and spending time on Martha’s Vineyard while trying to figure out her next steps. She’s swept away by Brendan’s humor and charm, and intoxicated by his thrilling, dangerous secret: he can breathe underwater. Able to stay beneath the waves for longer than should be possible, Brendan reveals that he is part of a secret experimental unit of the US Special Forces. And Cara, struck by the power of his conviction, by his unstoppable charisma, and by the evidence before her, believes him. Their summer romance turns serious. Then Cara gets pregnant. When their son, Micah, is born, she’s sure their happy ending is underway. Still, she’s thrown by Brendan’s dramatic moods, his unexplained disappearances, and the weight of his secrets. Cara is determined to stay strong for her young family, to heal Brendan’s psychic wounds, to keep him safe. Until he and baby Micah vanish, leaving her desolate and alone and questioning everything she once thought was true. Five years later, Cara is still struggling to move forward, married to another man and trying to rebuild her life, when a local fisherman announces he’s spotted two people—one of them a small child—treading water in Nantucket Sound, far from any vessels and miles from shore. The news rekindles Cara’s never-abandoned hope that her little boy may still be alive. As she fights to untangle delusion from reality, and revisits a past she’s worked hard to reconcile, Cara is determined to learn the truth about her lost love and finally find her son.