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The Sea Change
The Sea Change by Joanna Rossiter is a haunting and moving novel about a mother and a daughter, caught between a tsunami and a war.
Yesterday was Alice's wedding day. She is thousands of miles away from the home she is so desperate to leave, on the southernmost tip of India, when she wakes in the morning to see a wave on the horizon, taller than the height of her guest house on Kanyakumari beach. Her husband is nowhere to be seen.
On the other side of the world, unhappily estranged from her daughter, is Alice's mother, Violet. Forced to leave the idyllic Wiltshire village, Imber, in which she grew up after it was requisitioned by the army during World War Two, Violet is haunted by the shadow of the man she loved and the wilderness of a home that lies in ruins.
Amid the debris of the wave, Alice recollects the events of the hippie trail that led to her hasty marriage as she struggles to piece together the fate of the husband she barely knows. Meanwhile, Violet must return to Imber in order to let go of the life that is no longer hers - and begin the search for her daughter.
Yesterday was Alice's wedding day. She is thousands of miles away from the home she is so desperate to leave, on the southernmost tip of India, when she wakes in the morning to see a wave on the horizon, taller than the height of her guest house on Kanyakumari beach. Her husband is nowhere to be seen.
On the other side of the world, unhappily estranged from her daughter, is Alice's mother, Violet. Forced to leave the idyllic Wiltshire village, Imber, in which she grew up after it was requisitioned by the army during World War Two, Violet is haunted by the shadow of the man she loved and the wilderness of a home that lies in ruins.
Amid the debris of the wave, Alice recollects the events of the hippie trail that led to her hasty marriage as she struggles to piece together the fate of the husband she barely knows. Meanwhile, Violet must return to Imber in order to let go of the life that is no longer hers - and begin the search for her daughter.
278 pages, Paperback
First published May 9, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
July 2, 2013
3.5 Stars
The Sea Change by Joanna Rossiter is really interesting and charming book which weaves together the story of a lost English village requisitioned by the war office in 1943 with the aftermath of a tsunami in India in 1971. A mother and daughter's stories intertwine in this well written novel about the landscapes we live in and what it means to lose them.
I was really interested in the story of the village of Imber in England where in 1943 the villagers awoke on a cold November morning to the news that they would be evacuated from their homes to make way for American troops billeted to Salisbury Plain. Unknown to them at the time but their little village which had been home to generations of families would be used as practice grounds for the D-Day invasion, and eventually the homes and buildings in this village would crumble under shelling and eventually decay, the ruins remain to this day of a village once home to families for generations. Before reading this book I had never heard of the story of Imber and absolutely loved how Joanna Rossiter entwined this little piece of history into her storytelling.
This is Joanna Rossiter's first book and I was caught up with her prose and storytelling, the book is not a fast paced read but rather a book to be enjoyed at a slow quiet pace.
I enjoyed the characters of Violet, Freda and Martha and loved the sense of time and place that the author so eloquently described through the pictures she painted of the village of Imber and the part it would play in the war. I found myself googling the story of Imber and its inhabitants on the internet and I having read quite a bit about the War always love to learn new facts about less well known events and places and the author did a fantastic job of introducing the village of Imber in her novel and storytelling. I was not as interested in Alice's story and her travels to India.
I really enjoyed this novel and will certainly look forward to more books from Joanna Rossiter.
Thank you to Penguin Ireland for Advance Reader copy in return for an unbiased review.
The Sea Change by Joanna Rossiter is really interesting and charming book which weaves together the story of a lost English village requisitioned by the war office in 1943 with the aftermath of a tsunami in India in 1971. A mother and daughter's stories intertwine in this well written novel about the landscapes we live in and what it means to lose them.
I was really interested in the story of the village of Imber in England where in 1943 the villagers awoke on a cold November morning to the news that they would be evacuated from their homes to make way for American troops billeted to Salisbury Plain. Unknown to them at the time but their little village which had been home to generations of families would be used as practice grounds for the D-Day invasion, and eventually the homes and buildings in this village would crumble under shelling and eventually decay, the ruins remain to this day of a village once home to families for generations. Before reading this book I had never heard of the story of Imber and absolutely loved how Joanna Rossiter entwined this little piece of history into her storytelling.
This is Joanna Rossiter's first book and I was caught up with her prose and storytelling, the book is not a fast paced read but rather a book to be enjoyed at a slow quiet pace.
I enjoyed the characters of Violet, Freda and Martha and loved the sense of time and place that the author so eloquently described through the pictures she painted of the village of Imber and the part it would play in the war. I found myself googling the story of Imber and its inhabitants on the internet and I having read quite a bit about the War always love to learn new facts about less well known events and places and the author did a fantastic job of introducing the village of Imber in her novel and storytelling. I was not as interested in Alice's story and her travels to India.
I really enjoyed this novel and will certainly look forward to more books from Joanna Rossiter.
Thank you to Penguin Ireland for Advance Reader copy in return for an unbiased review.
March 7, 2016
First off, I fear this novel isn’t a great advertisement for creative writing courses. After a while there was the constant sense that the author was trying to impress a teacher with her “creative writing”. On the whole adding melodrama to a novel that is already dangerously melodramatic. Too much attention goes into sentence writing and not enough into the bigger issues – architecture, theme, successfully marrying the story and its historical settings.
Almost identical in structure to Evie Wyld’s After the Fire, except where Wyld examines (with a lot more artistry it has to be said) the father/son relationship Rossiter turns her attention to the mother/daughter relationship. Like in Wyld’s novel we have a double stranded narrative and again like Wyld, where the father is always younger than the son in the narrative, the mother here is almost always shown younger than the daughter. The two settings, largely gratuitous, are Imber, a rural village during world war two, and a coastal community in India during the tragedy of a tsunami.
For a while I was caught up in the Imber story (the tsunami sections of the novel are thin and long drawn out in comparison). Rossiter evokes the setting well and creates sufficient intrigue in the relationships of her characters. But at some point – probably when the idealised father dies and the family has to leave their home - her supposed theme and the story she’s telling begin to drift apart. It’s a farfetched claim that this is a novel about the displacement of community. It’s true Rossiter uses two historical moments where a community is displaced, a landscape is altered, but she largely ignores the bigger picture and instead shoehorns her domestic drama into these landslides of history without ever creating much reciprocity of resonance. We didn’t need world war two or a tsunami; the same story could have been told in a very different historical circumstances and places. Essentially the crucible of this novel is sibling rivalry – two daughters competing for the same man and the long term repercussions of this largely unexplored rift between the two girls. Pete, the object of both sisters’ interest, is initially like a Heathcliff character – wild, untethered, slightly cruel, a man who lives on the periphery of civilisation – but gradually loses his personality until he becomes a kind of convenience store where he’ll offer anything the novel’s plot needs to sustain itself.
Oddly in a novel with so much overwriting the dialogue is underwritten, wooden and prosaic throughout. Again there’s the recourse to melodrama, often in the form of ellipses. When a character is emotionally overcharged she will often stutter – “I…I wasn’t…I don’t know…” Otherwise the characters are often depicted stating the obvious.
When I finished this novel I was utterly perplexed by all its melodrama. The catalytic moment of the book’s narrative had nothing to do with war or tsunamis; it was simply that an elder sister slept with the love of the younger sister’s life and the war and the tsunami were sketched in as background detail almost as a commercial afterthought. I’m afraid for me Rossiter never displayed an assured mastery of her material.
Almost identical in structure to Evie Wyld’s After the Fire, except where Wyld examines (with a lot more artistry it has to be said) the father/son relationship Rossiter turns her attention to the mother/daughter relationship. Like in Wyld’s novel we have a double stranded narrative and again like Wyld, where the father is always younger than the son in the narrative, the mother here is almost always shown younger than the daughter. The two settings, largely gratuitous, are Imber, a rural village during world war two, and a coastal community in India during the tragedy of a tsunami.
For a while I was caught up in the Imber story (the tsunami sections of the novel are thin and long drawn out in comparison). Rossiter evokes the setting well and creates sufficient intrigue in the relationships of her characters. But at some point – probably when the idealised father dies and the family has to leave their home - her supposed theme and the story she’s telling begin to drift apart. It’s a farfetched claim that this is a novel about the displacement of community. It’s true Rossiter uses two historical moments where a community is displaced, a landscape is altered, but she largely ignores the bigger picture and instead shoehorns her domestic drama into these landslides of history without ever creating much reciprocity of resonance. We didn’t need world war two or a tsunami; the same story could have been told in a very different historical circumstances and places. Essentially the crucible of this novel is sibling rivalry – two daughters competing for the same man and the long term repercussions of this largely unexplored rift between the two girls. Pete, the object of both sisters’ interest, is initially like a Heathcliff character – wild, untethered, slightly cruel, a man who lives on the periphery of civilisation – but gradually loses his personality until he becomes a kind of convenience store where he’ll offer anything the novel’s plot needs to sustain itself.
Oddly in a novel with so much overwriting the dialogue is underwritten, wooden and prosaic throughout. Again there’s the recourse to melodrama, often in the form of ellipses. When a character is emotionally overcharged she will often stutter – “I…I wasn’t…I don’t know…” Otherwise the characters are often depicted stating the obvious.
When I finished this novel I was utterly perplexed by all its melodrama. The catalytic moment of the book’s narrative had nothing to do with war or tsunamis; it was simply that an elder sister slept with the love of the younger sister’s life and the war and the tsunami were sketched in as background detail almost as a commercial afterthought. I’m afraid for me Rossiter never displayed an assured mastery of her material.
February 3, 2022
The quality of the writing and even the two-layered story deserved much better characters. The characters for me were insipid and often annoying. If you're going to deploy a tsunami and the destruction of a church as emblems of a domestic drama your characters have to rise to the momentous heartbreak. In her defence it was a first novel.
September 19, 2013
Have you ever noticed how most books are rated between 3 and 4 no matter how good or bad you personally think it is? I'm constantly stunned that people can feel so differently towards certain books than I do. I couldn't help noticing one of the reviews near the top off the list that complains about the lack of action and exciting descriptions. But that is just not what this book is about, it is about relationships and emotions. I liked the fact that everything felt a little bit hazy and it kept you guessing right to the end - man I just finished the book sitting in the dark with my coat on when I got home as I was so keen to get to the end. I felt like the way it was written really evoked the feeling of memories - of course it is not all right there in your mind in bright colours. Memories are reality all wrapped up with emotions and feelings. I also really liked how, even though some unfortunate things happened I didn't feel like I disliked any of the characters or that they were sort of judged or condemned. Anyway I loved it! Beautiful story, beautiful writing.
July 2, 2013
Beautifully written.... Could almost smell the spices and the sea.
Flicks between two main storylines in two locations, complete opposites and yet it works well. Recommended
Flicks between two main storylines in two locations, complete opposites and yet it works well. Recommended
April 26, 2013
In her debut novel, The Sea Change, Joanna Rossiter writes about a peculiar kind of grief. I do not know the name of it. I wish I did.
Her book, you see, is about lost landscapes. She bases her story on two real events: the appropriation of Imber, a Wiltshire village, by the War Office in 1943; and a coastal community in India crushed by tsunami in 1971.
In each case there is destruction, the residents are displaced, their homes are robbed and the familiar environment scarred and garrotted. War and wave bring death to families caught up in them – and yet there are survivors too, left to mourn, recover and possibly to rebuild.
Rossiter gives us one family touched by both incidents. In 1971 (‘the present’), Alice is travelling overland through the Middle East to India with her spur-of-the-moment husband, having left her mother, Violet, in England on bad terms.
Meanwhile, her mother’s Imber upbringing forms the other portion of the story three decades earlier. She is the daughter of a parson, and Pete is the object of her teenage infatuation.
When catastrophe comes, personal loyalties are tested: the roots to the past that hold you back; the excitement and appeal of new experiences pulling you forward.
Violet’s love for Pete is intriguing. He is a wanderer without sentiment for any specific location, whereas Vi harbours a deep desire to ‘go home’, though war games have rendered Imber unrecognisable.
Her relationship with her daughter is equally complex. Alice’s adventuring hurts Violet, is intended to spite her, perhaps. The strings of affection tug, knot and unravel.
Rossiter has a gift for bringing geography to life, her descriptive passages are some of the loveliest and most effective I can recall reading. Likewise the devastation of landscapes she’s so skilfully created are poignant and anxiety-inducing. Rossiter makes it easy for us to see through Violet’s eyes, to empathise with her pain as her beloved birthplace is ripped apart. But as well as being a beautiful book, I think this is a subtle one. Is there something self-indulgent in Violet’s grief? Undignified even? (Bricks and mortar aren’t people after all.) Do villages have a heart, the same as any other loved one? It is an interesting question, intelligently asked.
One of the greatest pleasures I had reading this novel is the recurring theme of water damaged paper: the patches of mould on wallpaper like an atlas; the damp books drying over a banister; the ring from a teacup on an open map; the letter turned to mulch by the sea. I read a chapter in the bath and accidently got some pages wet – it was as if the moisture had leaked out of it.
Rossiter has a mature sensibility. She writes with fluency and grace. It seems implausible that The Sea Change is a debut novel, but it is. And the prospect of more work as good as this, or even better, is tantalising. She knows herself.
Her book, you see, is about lost landscapes. She bases her story on two real events: the appropriation of Imber, a Wiltshire village, by the War Office in 1943; and a coastal community in India crushed by tsunami in 1971.
In each case there is destruction, the residents are displaced, their homes are robbed and the familiar environment scarred and garrotted. War and wave bring death to families caught up in them – and yet there are survivors too, left to mourn, recover and possibly to rebuild.
Rossiter gives us one family touched by both incidents. In 1971 (‘the present’), Alice is travelling overland through the Middle East to India with her spur-of-the-moment husband, having left her mother, Violet, in England on bad terms.
Meanwhile, her mother’s Imber upbringing forms the other portion of the story three decades earlier. She is the daughter of a parson, and Pete is the object of her teenage infatuation.
When catastrophe comes, personal loyalties are tested: the roots to the past that hold you back; the excitement and appeal of new experiences pulling you forward.
Violet’s love for Pete is intriguing. He is a wanderer without sentiment for any specific location, whereas Vi harbours a deep desire to ‘go home’, though war games have rendered Imber unrecognisable.
Her relationship with her daughter is equally complex. Alice’s adventuring hurts Violet, is intended to spite her, perhaps. The strings of affection tug, knot and unravel.
Rossiter has a gift for bringing geography to life, her descriptive passages are some of the loveliest and most effective I can recall reading. Likewise the devastation of landscapes she’s so skilfully created are poignant and anxiety-inducing. Rossiter makes it easy for us to see through Violet’s eyes, to empathise with her pain as her beloved birthplace is ripped apart. But as well as being a beautiful book, I think this is a subtle one. Is there something self-indulgent in Violet’s grief? Undignified even? (Bricks and mortar aren’t people after all.) Do villages have a heart, the same as any other loved one? It is an interesting question, intelligently asked.
One of the greatest pleasures I had reading this novel is the recurring theme of water damaged paper: the patches of mould on wallpaper like an atlas; the damp books drying over a banister; the ring from a teacup on an open map; the letter turned to mulch by the sea. I read a chapter in the bath and accidently got some pages wet – it was as if the moisture had leaked out of it.
Rossiter has a mature sensibility. She writes with fluency and grace. It seems implausible that The Sea Change is a debut novel, but it is. And the prospect of more work as good as this, or even better, is tantalising. She knows herself.
August 10, 2013
I really enjoyed Vi's story but Alice's felt laboured and lacking in depth. The two parts of the book just didn't work together. I also disliked the author's need to add "clever sentences with deep meaning"....if the story is strong enough (as Vi's was, but Alice's wasn't) you don't need them and they just sound forced. Easy to read but not great.
May 28, 2013
‘The Sea Change’ finds Joanna Rossiter spinning a story around a mother and daughter, both caught up in life changing events – real, historical events – that are very different and yet have similar consequences. She does it so very well that I can scarcely believe it is her debut. But it is.
In 1971 Alice was travelling across Asia to India with her new boyfriend. When they reached India they married, but the very next day they were separated by a tsunami. As Alice desperately searched for James she had she thought about their past, their relationship, their journey. And she thought about her mother. Her instinct was to turn to her mother, Violet, but they had parted on bad terms.
In 1943 Violet’s home, and the whole Wiltshire village of Imber, was requisitioned by the army. She had never returned but she had never forgotten her home and the people who were lost to her now: her sensitive, caring father; her practical mother; her spirited sister, Freda; and Pete, the troubled young man she had been drawn to. They were all lost to her now.
The same themes – home, love, loss, misunderstanding – are threaded through both strands of the story.
Joanna Rossiter writes quite beautifully, in fluid, graceful prose, and she illuminates characters, places, relationships, in all of their complexity, so very well. And she writes with such intelligence and understanding, leaving space for her readers to wonder, to interpret, to think, to react.
I was completely caught up, though I was torn between wanting to rush forward with the story and wanting to linger to appreciate so much that was wonderful.
The movement between 1940s England and 1970s India felt quite natural, and the two places were brought together by recurring themes and images. The descriptions are rich, the sense of place is strong, bringing landscapes to life and making the destruction of those landscapes, by man and by nature, devastating.
All of that could have overtaken the characters and their stories, and yet it never did. They were utterly real, complex, and fallible. I cared, I wanted to intervene – particularly to bring mother and daughter together, to make them talk, to help them understand each other – but I couldn’t. I could only watch, utterly fascinated.
And for all that the two storylines are linked, for all they work together, each has its own character. The balance between incidents and emotions is different, Violet’s leaning towards the former and Alice’s towards the latter. At times I preferred one to the other, but each one was always compelling, always moving.
The tone at times is elegiac, and story is haunting.
After a debut like this I am finding it very easy to imagine Joanna Rossiter becoming an established author, whose new books welcomed with open arms. I do hope so …
In 1971 Alice was travelling across Asia to India with her new boyfriend. When they reached India they married, but the very next day they were separated by a tsunami. As Alice desperately searched for James she had she thought about their past, their relationship, their journey. And she thought about her mother. Her instinct was to turn to her mother, Violet, but they had parted on bad terms.
In 1943 Violet’s home, and the whole Wiltshire village of Imber, was requisitioned by the army. She had never returned but she had never forgotten her home and the people who were lost to her now: her sensitive, caring father; her practical mother; her spirited sister, Freda; and Pete, the troubled young man she had been drawn to. They were all lost to her now.
The same themes – home, love, loss, misunderstanding – are threaded through both strands of the story.
Joanna Rossiter writes quite beautifully, in fluid, graceful prose, and she illuminates characters, places, relationships, in all of their complexity, so very well. And she writes with such intelligence and understanding, leaving space for her readers to wonder, to interpret, to think, to react.
I was completely caught up, though I was torn between wanting to rush forward with the story and wanting to linger to appreciate so much that was wonderful.
The movement between 1940s England and 1970s India felt quite natural, and the two places were brought together by recurring themes and images. The descriptions are rich, the sense of place is strong, bringing landscapes to life and making the destruction of those landscapes, by man and by nature, devastating.
All of that could have overtaken the characters and their stories, and yet it never did. They were utterly real, complex, and fallible. I cared, I wanted to intervene – particularly to bring mother and daughter together, to make them talk, to help them understand each other – but I couldn’t. I could only watch, utterly fascinated.
And for all that the two storylines are linked, for all they work together, each has its own character. The balance between incidents and emotions is different, Violet’s leaning towards the former and Alice’s towards the latter. At times I preferred one to the other, but each one was always compelling, always moving.
The tone at times is elegiac, and story is haunting.
After a debut like this I am finding it very easy to imagine Joanna Rossiter becoming an established author, whose new books welcomed with open arms. I do hope so …
April 30, 2014
Two stories that are set a generation apart, they are linked by the relationship between the mother and daughter
The first story is set in the village of Imber in Wiltshire during the second world war. It is a rural village and they are hardly affected by the war, just the odd plane going overhead. There are two sister, Violet and Freda, daughters of the local parson. A lad called Peter comes to work in the village who befriends them. he is a bit of a whimsical character, he has travelled a lot, but is a solid hard worker. As the war continues more military personnel arrive and start the build up for the D day landings. They are asked to leave the village, along with all the other residents as the MoD want to use it for training. The are rehoused in a miserable house nearby. Violet starts to fall for Peter, and after getting a lift to a dance sees Peter dancing with her sister.
The second story woven in this one is about Alice. She is in Sri Lanka and has been married one day when the tsunami hits. her new husband has jet left to get them breakfast and she is swept inland and out to sea. She manages to find something to float on, and after a few hours she, and the other guy she is with are picked up by a boat. They are returned to the shore she starts a desperate and frantic search through the devastation to see if she can find James anywhere.
Violet returns to Imber to answer the questions about her past and the love that she lost. Alice in her grief starts to come to terms with the strained relationship that she had with her mother, and receives a letter that goes some way to explaining it.
Didn't think that i would like this that much, but it is a well written tale of the complexity of families and the tragedies that sometimes beset them. It deals with the roots that people push down in the places that they know and love, and how they cope with leaving them with no choice.
The first story is set in the village of Imber in Wiltshire during the second world war. It is a rural village and they are hardly affected by the war, just the odd plane going overhead. There are two sister, Violet and Freda, daughters of the local parson. A lad called Peter comes to work in the village who befriends them. he is a bit of a whimsical character, he has travelled a lot, but is a solid hard worker. As the war continues more military personnel arrive and start the build up for the D day landings. They are asked to leave the village, along with all the other residents as the MoD want to use it for training. The are rehoused in a miserable house nearby. Violet starts to fall for Peter, and after getting a lift to a dance sees Peter dancing with her sister.
The second story woven in this one is about Alice. She is in Sri Lanka and has been married one day when the tsunami hits. her new husband has jet left to get them breakfast and she is swept inland and out to sea. She manages to find something to float on, and after a few hours she, and the other guy she is with are picked up by a boat. They are returned to the shore she starts a desperate and frantic search through the devastation to see if she can find James anywhere.
Violet returns to Imber to answer the questions about her past and the love that she lost. Alice in her grief starts to come to terms with the strained relationship that she had with her mother, and receives a letter that goes some way to explaining it.
Didn't think that i would like this that much, but it is a well written tale of the complexity of families and the tragedies that sometimes beset them. It deals with the roots that people push down in the places that they know and love, and how they cope with leaving them with no choice.
May 31, 2013
A story that follows two women, a mother and daughter, through drastic events that change their lives.
Alice is a girl who has become more estranged from her mother, Violet. When honeymooning in India, her life is turned upside down by a tsunami. Desperate to find her husband, Alice is forced to question her relationship with her mother.
Running alongside Alice's tale is the story of her mother, growing up during the Second World War. Violet has spent her life since then questioning her actions in the past and wondering how things could have been different.
The story is a powerful one that tells the two stories well. Although originally appearing to be two separate tales of a mother and daughter, it becomes apparent towards the end exactly how well the stories interlock.
The issue I had with this book is that one of the stories is far more interesting than the other. The second story becomes an. Unwelcome distraction. The book also tries to be intelligent with a predictable twist at the end that was entirely necessary. I enjoyed the book, found myself wanting to read more but it is not one that I would necessarily rush to read again.
Worth a punt.
Alice is a girl who has become more estranged from her mother, Violet. When honeymooning in India, her life is turned upside down by a tsunami. Desperate to find her husband, Alice is forced to question her relationship with her mother.
Running alongside Alice's tale is the story of her mother, growing up during the Second World War. Violet has spent her life since then questioning her actions in the past and wondering how things could have been different.
The story is a powerful one that tells the two stories well. Although originally appearing to be two separate tales of a mother and daughter, it becomes apparent towards the end exactly how well the stories interlock.
The issue I had with this book is that one of the stories is far more interesting than the other. The second story becomes an. Unwelcome distraction. The book also tries to be intelligent with a predictable twist at the end that was entirely necessary. I enjoyed the book, found myself wanting to read more but it is not one that I would necessarily rush to read again.
Worth a punt.
August 10, 2016
My bookclub gave really mixed reviews on this book. I didn't really warm to the characters or the storyline as much as I would have liked too, but I found the context interesting. I have heard that the descriptions of Imber are accurate and describe quite well the way in which people may have felt at that time.
May 27, 2019
There are two stories within one book. To begin with, I did need to break between chapters where the story switched, as the stories were about different people, in different times and in different parts of the world. However, as similarities began to be revealed, I was able to continue more seamlessly between the chapters.
The story-telling here though is incredible. Unlike some other authors in which often lengthy description causes the story to become disjointed, here Rossiter's beautiful passages of description blend seamlessly into the story-telling.
The story-telling here though is incredible. Unlike some other authors in which often lengthy description causes the story to become disjointed, here Rossiter's beautiful passages of description blend seamlessly into the story-telling.
May 5, 2014
I bought this book to feed my little obsession with historical novels particularly ones surrounding War.
The chapters inhabit two villages within two different time zones; jumping from the beginning of World War 2 in the little village of ‘Imber’ situated in Wiltshire (England) and the aftermath of the Tsunami event of 1971 in a small village in India. I found the descriptions surrounding both events powerful with a good use of imagery which made the main characters totally believable.
I think the main theme of this story is centred around relationships, in particular the relationship between a mother (Violet) and her daughter (Alice) living through harrowing real life events. It tackles love, loss and grief with a delicate and emotive pen. A lovely piece of lilting storytelling that never rushes you as a reader. There is plenty of pace for reflection; I am still thinking about certain parts of the story today. It stays with you and I think for any story to be a good one, it needs to pull you in and make you really think and care for the characters.
Saying that, I did find the story a bit frustrating at times; the mother- daughter relationship can be a testing one, albeit a little strained at times and you see the essence of this from 3 parts in the book: young Violet, present Violet and Alice. The characters are intriguing though and certainly fleshed – out, intricate and true to life.
It was interesting to see the two women living through two different life threatening events. Violet experiences total upheaval from her beloved village of Imber in Wiltshire with the onset of World War 2. She battles against her emotions, and you see her maturing into a woman. She questions death on and off which is continually around her due to the slaughter of War. I have recently read Kate Atkinson’s account of War in her book, Life after Life, and parts of this book reminds me of this. It has the same blending in and out of time zones.
In another time zone, years later, you see Alice (her daughter) notably undergoing a sea change by being caught up in a tidal wave whilst travelling to India and her quest is finding some truth/order and ultimately, love. I think there is something so beautiful when a writer includes a quest as it gives the reader a bit more pace when reading, something to solve. That may just be the crime reader in me!
I have to admit that I like the fact that this book includes two very strong women, whom both are trying to understand life and love.
Personally, I think it’s about Violet and Alice coming together and finding out the meaning of what it actually means to be loved. It’s certainly a book that makes you think.
By the end of the book, I found that I wanted a bit more, which I feel is good. I would have liked a bit more detail in certain parts of the story as it was unfolding to further my understanding of certain motivations. But, I suppose, we’d all like a bit more of something totally absorbing and emotive that seems to make complete sense to us. It was hard to put down in parts and you get a sense that both women are beginning to understand one another; their understanding of what it actually means to belong.
An evocative novel – absorbing and overall beautifully written.
The chapters inhabit two villages within two different time zones; jumping from the beginning of World War 2 in the little village of ‘Imber’ situated in Wiltshire (England) and the aftermath of the Tsunami event of 1971 in a small village in India. I found the descriptions surrounding both events powerful with a good use of imagery which made the main characters totally believable.
I think the main theme of this story is centred around relationships, in particular the relationship between a mother (Violet) and her daughter (Alice) living through harrowing real life events. It tackles love, loss and grief with a delicate and emotive pen. A lovely piece of lilting storytelling that never rushes you as a reader. There is plenty of pace for reflection; I am still thinking about certain parts of the story today. It stays with you and I think for any story to be a good one, it needs to pull you in and make you really think and care for the characters.
Saying that, I did find the story a bit frustrating at times; the mother- daughter relationship can be a testing one, albeit a little strained at times and you see the essence of this from 3 parts in the book: young Violet, present Violet and Alice. The characters are intriguing though and certainly fleshed – out, intricate and true to life.
It was interesting to see the two women living through two different life threatening events. Violet experiences total upheaval from her beloved village of Imber in Wiltshire with the onset of World War 2. She battles against her emotions, and you see her maturing into a woman. She questions death on and off which is continually around her due to the slaughter of War. I have recently read Kate Atkinson’s account of War in her book, Life after Life, and parts of this book reminds me of this. It has the same blending in and out of time zones.
In another time zone, years later, you see Alice (her daughter) notably undergoing a sea change by being caught up in a tidal wave whilst travelling to India and her quest is finding some truth/order and ultimately, love. I think there is something so beautiful when a writer includes a quest as it gives the reader a bit more pace when reading, something to solve. That may just be the crime reader in me!
I have to admit that I like the fact that this book includes two very strong women, whom both are trying to understand life and love.
Personally, I think it’s about Violet and Alice coming together and finding out the meaning of what it actually means to be loved. It’s certainly a book that makes you think.
By the end of the book, I found that I wanted a bit more, which I feel is good. I would have liked a bit more detail in certain parts of the story as it was unfolding to further my understanding of certain motivations. But, I suppose, we’d all like a bit more of something totally absorbing and emotive that seems to make complete sense to us. It was hard to put down in parts and you get a sense that both women are beginning to understand one another; their understanding of what it actually means to belong.
An evocative novel – absorbing and overall beautifully written.
July 31, 2013
Probably 3 and a half stars for me. This is another book to be featured on the Richard and Judy Summer Book Club 2013, and an interesting and compelling debut novel. It focuses on two women, a mother and daughter, both of whom have had a catastrophe occur in their lives. For Violet, it is the loss of her home and way of life, during World War II, when she was evacuated from her home to make way for a military training ground on Salisbury Plains. Having lost her father recently in a terrible accident, and her sister to a new life in London as a nurse for the war effort, Violet feels that everything dear to her has been taken away (including the man she has been in love with since childhood) and struggles to recover in the long term.
Present day (1971) her estranged daughter Alice is travelling in India with her boyfriend James, who quickly becomes her husband, as Alice fights to come to terms with the difficulties she has had with her mother. Tragically, a tsunami hits the country as James goes out to get breakfast one morning and Alice is separated from the husband who she hardly knows. The story then follows both women, going back in time for Violet, and present day for Alice as they both deal with their own tragedy.
The most interesting part of this story for me was the fact that Violet’s home village of Imber actually existed, and was requisitioned by the military for use during the war. The army still use it to this day, whilst training on Salisbury Plains. Apparently it is rarely open to the public, but I think a visit there would be absolutely fascinating. I thought the use of a natural disaster (the tsunami) versus a “man-made” disaster i.e. wartime, was very interesting, and I loved comparing and contrasting the two as it alternated between chapters. It was also intriguing to see the pieces of the story come together at the end (for that slap your head “Of course!” moment). An entertaining debut from a talented author that I will be looking out for in the future.
Please see my full review at http://www.bibliobeth.wordpress.com
Present day (1971) her estranged daughter Alice is travelling in India with her boyfriend James, who quickly becomes her husband, as Alice fights to come to terms with the difficulties she has had with her mother. Tragically, a tsunami hits the country as James goes out to get breakfast one morning and Alice is separated from the husband who she hardly knows. The story then follows both women, going back in time for Violet, and present day for Alice as they both deal with their own tragedy.
The most interesting part of this story for me was the fact that Violet’s home village of Imber actually existed, and was requisitioned by the military for use during the war. The army still use it to this day, whilst training on Salisbury Plains. Apparently it is rarely open to the public, but I think a visit there would be absolutely fascinating. I thought the use of a natural disaster (the tsunami) versus a “man-made” disaster i.e. wartime, was very interesting, and I loved comparing and contrasting the two as it alternated between chapters. It was also intriguing to see the pieces of the story come together at the end (for that slap your head “Of course!” moment). An entertaining debut from a talented author that I will be looking out for in the future.
Please see my full review at http://www.bibliobeth.wordpress.com
January 29, 2014
Yesterday was Alice's wedding day. Suddenly her world spins around and she is separated from her husband James by a tsunami. Meanwhile back at home her mother's sister. Violet, who has brought her up thinks about her own childhood, her mother' her father' her sister Freda, but most of all the war and her love, Pete.
The chapters follow an alternate pattern between Violet's childhood and Alice's present. This book is wonderful for people who think their life sucks. It gives them something to think about and appreciate the small things in life. Violet had to leave behind her well-settled and wonderful life in Imber because of the war. This Second World War took away Violet's whole life including her father.
However, this book could use more clarification in specific places. You need to continuously read to keep track of what is going on in the book. This one flaw takes the whole book a step back from perfection because at places you need loads of time to understand the goings on.
The chapters follow an alternate pattern between Violet's childhood and Alice's present. This book is wonderful for people who think their life sucks. It gives them something to think about and appreciate the small things in life. Violet had to leave behind her well-settled and wonderful life in Imber because of the war. This Second World War took away Violet's whole life including her father.
However, this book could use more clarification in specific places. You need to continuously read to keep track of what is going on in the book. This one flaw takes the whole book a step back from perfection because at places you need loads of time to understand the goings on.
July 29, 2013
I bought The Sea Change, as I'm keen to read new novels set in World War 2. Although I enjoyed the book, I didn't get a sense of either the wartime era nor the 1970s in which the other half of the novel is set. I didn't feel enough empathy with the main characters to be moved by their situation and thought James was too sketchily drawn. The descriptions of Imber are good and I liked the way the author explored the theme of lost home and family. I really couldn't see the point of setting part of the novel in India after the tsunami has struck. I'd have preferred the author to focus more fully on Violet's plight during the war. This is partly a love story, but I found I didn't care enough about Violet and Pete to be emotionally drawn into their relationship. Joanna Rossiter writes well; I admired her use of language and imagery, but I feel she could work harder at tugging on the reader's emotions.
October 1, 2013
This is not a book I would normally have read, but it was selected for our small book group, so I had little choice. Beside, my wife had read it first and really enjoyed it.
Lots of the descriptive writing is excellent, particularly the evocation of the tsunami and its impact and the wander through the "ghost" village of Imber. It is an enjoyable enough read, but I was much more caught up in 40s Wiltshire than I was in 70s (I assume) India. Essentially there are only two real characters in the book, a mother and her daughter, the supporting cast are only lightly drawn. The character of Alice the daughter is less than fully developed and her story disappointed me.
For a first novel this is a good effort, but not one that will have me waiting anxiously for her follow-up, but then I'm not part of her target audience.
Lots of the descriptive writing is excellent, particularly the evocation of the tsunami and its impact and the wander through the "ghost" village of Imber. It is an enjoyable enough read, but I was much more caught up in 40s Wiltshire than I was in 70s (I assume) India. Essentially there are only two real characters in the book, a mother and her daughter, the supporting cast are only lightly drawn. The character of Alice the daughter is less than fully developed and her story disappointed me.
For a first novel this is a good effort, but not one that will have me waiting anxiously for her follow-up, but then I'm not part of her target audience.
October 16, 2016
Sea Change tells the story of Alice and her mother Violet in alternating chapters. Vi's story is set during the time preceding and during WWII. Alice's story is set in the early 70's as Hippie youth are traveling the world; Alice's journey ending in India where she experiences a devastating Tsunami. At heart, in this novel, is the struggle of Mother and Daughter to connect; the secrets families and lovers keep and the deep pain we cause each other. Rossiter's use of setting portions of her story in Imber recalls the little known and tragic history of an English village sacrificed to war. Recommended for fans of historical fiction.
March 12, 2014
I found this story engaging in parts but eventually I didn't care enough what happened to any of the characters and couldn't wait to finish. The writing is eloquent but self conscious and seems to push itself forward rather than support the story. There are moments when the words and pictures they paint seem to stand apart from the story - like a piece of creative writing. Since writing this I had the pleasure of hearing Joanna Rossiter speak at a Litetature festival. I will definitely try her next novel.
February 1, 2014
This was a bit of an uneven book for me. I really liked the WWII story but didn't enjoy the storyline set in 1971. (Trying not to give away too much here - there are a lot of secrets in this book!) Also, the language felt like the writer was trying too hard with the descriptions at times.
October 25, 2020
Rossiter’s debut novel seamlessly blends the lives and loves of Alice and her mother, Violet – an impressive feat when Alice’s story emerges from the wreckage of an Indian tsunami in 1971 and Violet’s harks back to the 1940s.
Desperately searching for her husband in the wreckage, Alice is upset by recent correspondence from Violet. Meanwhile, moving back in time, the young Violet runs wild as a tomboy in the idyllic rural village of Imber. She worships her friend Pete and struggles with her prim older sister Freda.
But tragedy strikes, and when the War Office appropriates the village, Violet’s traumatised family must relocate. The wounds caused by leaving the world she knew so well continue to haunt an adult Violet, marring her relationship with Alice. When distance and natural disaster threaten Violet’s tentative ties to her daughter, she finally faces her past.
Rossiter is a wonderful storyteller and this is an impressive, fluid and engaging debut.
December 16, 2019
The Sea Change by Joanna Rossiter is a gentle, well-written novel about love and loss. Woven together, are the experiences a mother (Violet) and a daughter (Alice) go through to come to an understanding. The mother's story takes place during WWII when an entire village was given over to American troops to practice tactical moves in European warfare. All residents had to move out! Along with losing her village, her home and, in a sense, her identity, Violet also lost her father and later the man she loved. Alice lost everything in a tsunami in India. Will mother and daughter find strength in each other? Will they find enough love to help each other recover?
The Sea Change is a fantastic story that feels like a walk through the woods on a cold, misty day, fragrant and real and yet haunting.
The Sea Change is a fantastic story that feels like a walk through the woods on a cold, misty day, fragrant and real and yet haunting.
July 28, 2019
Love, estrangement and grief. A family story set on opposite sides of the world and at different times. Tsunami stricken India and war struck Wiltshire, this story is cleverly woven together with precision.
A genuinely moving story. Never heard of Joanna Rossiter and unsurprisingly 'Sea Change' is her debut novel. Fluently written, from what must be a young person, because in 2011 she completed a MA in writing at Warwick University.
I'm sure we shall here much more of her in years to come. Great achievement.
A genuinely moving story. Never heard of Joanna Rossiter and unsurprisingly 'Sea Change' is her debut novel. Fluently written, from what must be a young person, because in 2011 she completed a MA in writing at Warwick University.
I'm sure we shall here much more of her in years to come. Great achievement.
May 18, 2026
Book club choice. The novel began strongly and includes some powerful descriptions of location. The fate of the village near Salisbury plain during WW2 is really well evoked; less so the village in India. We hop from head to head, and some of the relationships didn't convince me. The ending felt rushed and less well described than earlier chapters. The main theme was mother/daughter difficulties, however I'm not sure I ever really understood their disconnect despite the author's best efforts. Also, the tone of the 2 protagonists was very similar - I'd have liked more distinct voices.
November 12, 2020
I found this a moving story, it takes place in two different time periods but the stories are linked by a mother and daughter. It also focuses on the relationship between two siblings.
Both World War Two and a Tsunami take place but they are more of a backdrop to the complicated family relationships.
Both World War Two and a Tsunami take place but they are more of a backdrop to the complicated family relationships.
November 21, 2023
Toiled my way through half the book before giving up.
Overwritten drivel.
The author seems to think endless descriptive passages using every adjective she can find in the dictionary is good writing.
Absolutely no character development or plot!
Just awful. Avoid like the plague.
Overwritten drivel.
The author seems to think endless descriptive passages using every adjective she can find in the dictionary is good writing.
Absolutely no character development or plot!
Just awful. Avoid like the plague.
October 24, 2017
This is a beautifully written a book with such descriptive passages that you could almost taste and smell what is being described. It kept me guessing almost until the end.
December 28, 2019
I recommend this novel. It’s a very gripping, yet smooth story of, inter alia, loss, not knowing, heartache, evaluation.. I glided through this book & I enjoyed it.
January 30, 2022
I just loved the Rossiter's prose. Beautifully written tale.
May 10, 2025
the concept and parallels between the 2 events is good but it's not an easy read.
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