The Water's Edge

by Louise Tondeur

The Water's Edge Tondeur, Louise

Genres: LGBT, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2003

About the author

Louise has been a writer and a teacher in various guises for the last twenty-five years. She lives in East Sussex and is currently working on her first crime novel.

Reviews

[Roz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't expecting this book to be that good if i'm honest - I only bought it because the blurb sounded gay which is, in fairness, 90% of my reasoning behind buying books. I was a little concerned that the hinted at lesbian relationships would turn out to be that particular kind of ambiguous, intense "friendships" that get danced around but are never explicitly told to be anymore but, fear not, there are some premium level lesbians (including one unexpected one on the very last page which made my heart grow about three sizes in my chest). A beautiful weaving of a family's story through time, tightly focused on it's women with an odd but surprisingly fitting addition of Persephone as an invested spectator and annual hotel guest. A book about family, history, women and the ghosts that linger on and fall in layers and layers of voices on old houses.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book and not just because I know the author.

[Lizzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of the mouth of hades being boscombe pier was great has to be said.

[Jayne Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book great company: the unusually named Rice loses her mother at the age of 13 and has to go and live with one of her mother's old friends in a hotel she runs in Bournemouth. This had a certain nostalgic appeal for me - I arrived in Bournemouth in 1987 as a student; in the days before the university had its own halls of residence we were all billeted in local hotels and guesthouses. I ended up just a few streets away from the fictional "Waters Edge", according to the hand-drawn map the author had added at the front of my copy. I was constantly reminded of those days as the novel plotted its gentle course through the 1980s and 1990s and the cast visited places I recognised, and it was quietly instructive as to the ins and outs of running a hotel where everyone has to muck in.

The local appeal was enough for me to pick the book up in the first place, but the reason to read on was the consistently excellent standard of the writing. The portrayal of Rice in the early stages of the story where she is understandably disorientated and wanders around in a cloud of pyjama-clad truculence/apathy is really well done. And at all points there is just enough mystery to keep the reader wanting to know more.

There is a surreal element woven into the story which sees a character from Greek mythology popping up from the underworld every year and knocking around in the hotel under an assumed identity. It's an odd and somewhat brave inclusion by the author and quite a contrast with the realism of the rest of the novel. It certainly makes a change from the bog standard omniscient narrator when it comes to delving into the characters' pasts. At one point we are presented with the vision of Poseidon driving a stolen car to Bournemouth and arriving "at Bournemouth Beach, near to the gateway to hell". Not something I'm expecting to see on any leaflets in the Tourist Info centre any time soon.

Oddly enough - because a hint of magical realism in a book usually has me running for the hills - I thought the Persephone sections contained some of the best writing - there was a fluidity and a poetry to it that really elevated it and took the text to a new level. All in all a really good, pleasantly quirky read.

[Marina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual novel with sympathetically-drawn, appealing characters. The use of similes is strikingly beautiful and were a joy to experience. A charming and enjoyable read.

[Sina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louise Tondeur understands that a house is just layers of ghosts, especially if your family has lived there for almost a century.