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One True Ocean
A gripping, atmospheric novel about the buried secrets that drive two generations of women apart.
After the tragic loss of her husband, Jenna McGarry longs for an escape from her grief. When a mystery surrounding her aunt's long-past death surfaces, she decides to move back to her childhood home in Maine, where her mother and aunt also grew up.
In a search for answers to her aunt's death and her own identity, Jenna discovers the house holds dark secrets that will unravel her family history and shatter the truth she has come to believe.
Set in the lush backdrop of coastal Maine, The One True Ocean blends dark psychology with suspenseful storytelling to explore the deep connections between past and present, love and loss, the dead and the living.
After the tragic loss of her husband, Jenna McGarry longs for an escape from her grief. When a mystery surrounding her aunt's long-past death surfaces, she decides to move back to her childhood home in Maine, where her mother and aunt also grew up.
In a search for answers to her aunt's death and her own identity, Jenna discovers the house holds dark secrets that will unravel her family history and shatter the truth she has come to believe.
Set in the lush backdrop of coastal Maine, The One True Ocean blends dark psychology with suspenseful storytelling to explore the deep connections between past and present, love and loss, the dead and the living.
367 pages, ebook
First published October 1, 2003
14 people are currently reading
3036 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Beth Martin
6 books67 followersSarah Beth Martin is the author of In the Vanishing Hour and The One True Ocean (Encircle Publications). Her short fiction and essays have appeared in literary journals, magazines and blogs, including Cicada, West Wind Review, and Women Writers, Women's Books, among others. She started the literary journal Foliage, for which she worked as editor and publisher. She lives in coastal Maine, where she is finishing her third novel.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
July 31, 2017
The story of three woman, Jenna, her mother Renee and Renee’s sister Adeline. Jenna also has a much younger sister Elisabeth, although she doesn’t have a great part to play. This is a book of loss, grief, death, relationships and secrets, told largely from Jenna’s point of view with some short chapters telling Renee’s story. I liked the setting of Maine but wasn’t overly enamoured by any of the characters. I struggled with the concept of such a harsh and cold relationship between mother and daughter. There is also competition and antagonism between the sisters. Some of the descriptions were very evocative. Other parts kept me reading, even though I didn’t like the characters overly, because I wanted to see how it all panned out.
So this book left me with a mixed reaction. I liked some aspects and not others. At no point did I consider giving up reading. There was enough to keep me interested, even though I found some of the behaviour of characters bizarre at times. This story does jump around in time a lot, as it seeks to fill in the gaps of what really happened and events that have lingered with each of the main characters, affecting their decisions and behaviour. So, in that sense, it was an interesting exploration of character.
I picked this book up at the library because I liked the cover. For a plucked off the shelf read, I wasn’t disappointed. It is a debut novel so it will be interesting to see what this writer does next.
So this book left me with a mixed reaction. I liked some aspects and not others. At no point did I consider giving up reading. There was enough to keep me interested, even though I found some of the behaviour of characters bizarre at times. This story does jump around in time a lot, as it seeks to fill in the gaps of what really happened and events that have lingered with each of the main characters, affecting their decisions and behaviour. So, in that sense, it was an interesting exploration of character.
I picked this book up at the library because I liked the cover. For a plucked off the shelf read, I wasn’t disappointed. It is a debut novel so it will be interesting to see what this writer does next.
September 5, 2008
This was a book I just picked up at the airport and I was very pleasantly surprised. I liked how she told the story from different characters' perspective.
July 15, 2017
A little slow to start but what a finish! Good quick read!
June 2, 2019
This was beautifully written – almost lyrical. It has well drawn characters, with tangible, believable emotions. The story centres on Jenna & her mother, Renee.
The first chapter of each section is told from Renee’s point of view, in her voice, sometimes in the present and sometimes in the past. The rest of the chapters in the section are in Jenna’s voice, mostly in the present, but sometimes in the past.
It is lovely the way the book gives bits and pieces and allows the reader to piece things together; there are several possible ways it could have played out, so as reader you can never quite be sure how it will end – although there are definitley elements that are predictable.
While there are several sad moments in the book and some larger tragedies, it is ultimately satisfying and somehow peaceful.
Favourite phrase – “my soul is dehydrated”
The first chapter of each section is told from Renee’s point of view, in her voice, sometimes in the present and sometimes in the past. The rest of the chapters in the section are in Jenna’s voice, mostly in the present, but sometimes in the past.
It is lovely the way the book gives bits and pieces and allows the reader to piece things together; there are several possible ways it could have played out, so as reader you can never quite be sure how it will end – although there are definitley elements that are predictable.
While there are several sad moments in the book and some larger tragedies, it is ultimately satisfying and somehow peaceful.
Favourite phrase – “my soul is dehydrated”
July 31, 2011
Pretty good for a first book. Looking back I would say it could have used some tighter editing, but I frequently picked this book up, read for a short time and found 20 pages had just melted away, so at no time was this book a "slog." I think the part I had the most trouble believing was the personality change that Adeline went through from teenager to adult. She was like 2 different people. I also don't know that I believe that person (either in teenage form or adult) would have killed herself. An entertaining read.
July 29, 2008
I suppose you could call this a mystery in as much as it slowly unravels the circumstances surrounding a death. But it was more than that.
Although this book seemed a bit contrived at times, it had a lot of heart. The author was terrific at writing description, but fumbled a little with dialog.
Although this book seemed a bit contrived at times, it had a lot of heart. The author was terrific at writing description, but fumbled a little with dialog.
March 16, 2012
An eloquent debut!
February 5, 2012
I look forward to her next book
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July 25, 2016Awesome book!
June 9, 2020
Fascinating and smooth work of fiction. I felt I was peeling back the layers of an onion, getting to know the characters. I would like to see more work from Ms. Martin.
May 22, 2023
A family drama with deeply buried secrets, entwined with a mystery. Martin demonstrates how a family's past profoundly affects the present, even when people refuse to acknowledge foundational events.
February 1, 2013
was an okay read kinda confusing to start. I hate that it bounced around time so much an I wish the bilogical father wouldn't of been dead
September 20, 2025
It was okay but I was not impressed by any of the characters. Adelaide was selfish and narcissistic. Renee treated her daughter so poorly, making her feel as though she ruined her mother’s life by being born. I didn’t understand Jenna’s decision to not have a child with Simon. Montague was stupid for not using protection.
November 3, 2024
The story revolves around three women - Renee and her sister, Adeline, and Renee's daughter, Jenna. There is mystery surrounding Adeline's death and the mystery of Jenna's birth father. Can Jenna solve those mysteries? What secrets will she uncover? It makes for compelling reading.
April 18, 2009
********WARNING***** CONATINS SPOILERS******
This one really hard to rate. There were parts of it I enjoyed and parts that were heavy. I enjoyed the "mystery" surrounding her aunts death and did not see the tie ins between that and her father before hand at all. I know death was a centeral theme but why so much. I know that they all had to tie together to make the story complete but that is where I feel she left some loose ends. I wanted more about the issue that her dead husband looked like her dead father. The characters were very deep but sometimes unbelievable. Could a lost love really make a mother as cold and uncaring as hers? I have so amny questions and thoughts about this book. I wish someone else had been reading this at same time so we could have discussed it.
This one really hard to rate. There were parts of it I enjoyed and parts that were heavy. I enjoyed the "mystery" surrounding her aunts death and did not see the tie ins between that and her father before hand at all. I know death was a centeral theme but why so much. I know that they all had to tie together to make the story complete but that is where I feel she left some loose ends. I wanted more about the issue that her dead husband looked like her dead father. The characters were very deep but sometimes unbelievable. Could a lost love really make a mother as cold and uncaring as hers? I have so amny questions and thoughts about this book. I wish someone else had been reading this at same time so we could have discussed it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2014
I would have given it almost four. It is bout three women, basically, one who has passed by suicide but is in flashbacks, a current young woman who has lost her husband and does not know who her father is, and the young woman's mother. It is about them all coming together after many years of misunderstanding.
February 11, 2015
This book took some time for me to get into it. It repeated alot of stuff through out and honestly got boring.
The ending of the book was much better than anticipated. The book was about a young woman who goes back to Maine where she grew up as a child. She has flashbacks of different areas of her life that she is having a hard time getting past.
The ending of the book was much better than anticipated. The book was about a young woman who goes back to Maine where she grew up as a child. She has flashbacks of different areas of her life that she is having a hard time getting past.
March 18, 2008
terrible- she tried to make it clever by telling the story from different points of view, but didn't do this very skillfully so you didn't know what was going on until the end. but not in an exciting, page turning way, but in a weary "what is she talking about?" way...
July 22, 2008
Meh, not that great. It tried too hard.
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April 13, 2009I hear there is too much death in this book for me. no thanks
February 26, 2018
This book was OK. I liked the mom's story better than Jenna's.
December 10, 2013
Liked the book. Lots of death, lots! The second half of the book was so much better than the first. Easy read, enjoyed the story from two different characters.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews