Three Women at the Water's Edge: A Novel

by Nancy Thayer

Now available for the first time as an eBook, this classic novel by New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer deftly and movingly explores the ebb and flow of love, fulfillment, and change for a mother and her two grown daughters.
 
Margaret Wallace is a woman transformed. After thirty years of marriage and living in a small Iowa town, Margaret has divorced and relocated to Vancouver. While once she was the quintessential housewife and community caregiver, she now relishes the delicious freedom of being beholden to no one but herself. Her days are spent as she chooses, her mind continually occupied and expanding. But her sudden, dramatic change mystifies her two daughters, who need her now more than ever.
 
Margaret’s elder daughter, Daisy, with two kids and another on the way, is content to be absorbed in the daily domestic tasks and maternal love that her children need. So when her husband demands a divorce, Daisy is devastated and adrift, stunned to find herself a single parent. Daisy’s younger sister, Dale, is freshly back from Europe, living and teaching in coastal Maine. She has suddenly, passionately fallen in love—but is terrified that the budding romance could end just as suddenly as her mother’s and sister’s have. As these three women face dramatic changes, their own relationships with each other will be challenged and reborn as they navigate uncharted waters.
 
Includes a captivating preview of Nancy Thayer’s upcoming novel Nantucket Sisters!

Praise for the novels of Nancy Thayer
 
“The queen of beach books.” —The Star-Ledger
 
“Thayer has a deep and masterly understanding of love and friendship, of where the two complement and where they collide.”—Elin Hilderbrand
 
“Thayer’s gift for reaching the emotional core of her characters [is] captivating.”—Houston Chronicle
 
“One of my favorite writers.”—Susan Wiggs
 
“Thayer portrays beautifully the small moments, inside stories and shared histories that build families.”—The Miami Herald
 
“Thayer’s sense of place is powerful, and her words are hung together the way my grandmother used to tat lace.”—Dorothea Benton Frank

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Romance

397 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Nancy Thayer has published 35 novels, including Family Reunion and Secrets in Summer. She has lived on Nantucket Island year-round for 38 years with her husband Charley Walters. They have two children and five grandchildren.

Reviews

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific book and one that will never disappear from my shelves - I love to re-read it from time to time. It's beautifully written, not as insubstantial and easily forgotten as so much modern women's fiction. The detail of the environment and inner lives of the characters is rich, sensual and very engaging. The three stories are beautifully balanced - first serious love, motherhood and empty nest - we meet these women as they are poised "at the edge" of those major transitions and it's a wonderful journey following the choices they make. I first read this book when I was in my early 20s - and even then it was the mother's character that I most connected with. A character that lived a life filled with beauty, discipline, independance, courage and determination. This book even inspired me to visit Vancouver! My copy is very tatty now, and I look forward to when it becomes an e-book (will publishers make author's back catalgues available? I do hope so!)

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite books. Written in 1981, it is her first one. A different style, and beautifully written, and one feels like they are one of the 3 characters. You can identify with each one, depending on the stage of your life. Great reading. Loved it.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a young working mother. I wanted to list it here because I remember that I found truths in it at the time about being a woman, mother, wife, sister. I've tried to order it lately on Amazon, but was put on hold forever. I'd like to read it again and see if I find it as enlightening after 25 some odd years.

[Bonnie Eldridge-labaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book review

How does one find themself after experiencing divorce, broken hearts and being a single mother. You look around you and find things that make you happy. Life is to be lived and loved .

[Eileen Goudge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this novel years ago after it was recommended by an editor friend of mine. I have since re-read it, and found it every bit as wonderful and satisfying as on the first read. I could relate to the characters, especially Margaret and Daisy, who resonated with me. The handling of each woman's storyline is as deft as it is subtle. We come to know them as real people, loveable and deserving of love despite their flaws. Anyone who loves a good novel - notice I use the word "novel" and not women's fiction title - should read THREE WOMEN AT WATER'S EDGE. Once you get your feet wet, you won't look back.

[Marnie Doherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book when I was the age of the youngest daughter and loved it. I then read it when I was a young mother and could relate to the oldest daughter. I reread it years later and was able to relate to the mother, who I thought was so old when I first read it:). I think it a sign of a good book that when you reread it you can relate to different characters. I wish you could get it on kindle.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seeing that my library has all of Nancy Thayer's earlier books available for Kindle download, I thought I would start with Three Women at the Water's Edge. Well, I did finish it, but it was quite the chore. There was a really good story in there; however, it kept getting ploughed under by words, words, and more words.

Opening lines:
Daisy read what her mother, Margaret Wallace, had written:
"Dearest Daisy,
"I am happier than I have ever been in my life.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author lives on and writes stories set in Nantucket. I love every one of her books that I have read, but this one was also unique to her others. Plus, I'm always a sucker when the setting is a main "character."
Barbara

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not particularly care for the mom's character in this book, but I did appreciate the daughters' plights. Mom eventually came around, but mostly I enjoy how Thayer imparts her words of wisdom on her readers.

[LInda L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book -- a mother and her 2 daughters try to make new lives for themselves. The mother seems better at it, but the daughters keep trying. One of them is a bit of a whiner, but she gets better toward the end. Keeps you engaged all the way through.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am so glad the publisher released ms thayers books on e books. i am throughly enjoying them.
this was about a mother and 2 daughters who each experience dramatic life changes and how each copes and grows

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was in my goodreads recommended list and I have no idea why. The book is pretty redundant when it switches between characters telling of the same story. I was not impressed with the book at all.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Nancy Thayer. The end.

[Celine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story of Mother and two daughters each wth totally different lives but so connected

[Jean Galloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book .. very heartwarming and Ms. Thayer is one of my favorite authors .. so im prejudiced:)

[Merja Pohjola · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of stuff I could relate to... <3 Another good one from Thayer.

[Teresa Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this easy read. One of the characters reminded so much of myself it made the read go by very quickly. Good rainy day read.

[Betty Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read!!

Enjoyed the women in their differences. I could relate to each different type and their specific needs even though they are related
.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have liked other books by this author better than this one. This one is about a mother and her two grown daughters. Each is in the process of changing her life and creating her own path. It's a bit angsty for me, and I found the mother in particular rather selfish in her recreation of her life. Still, I finished it, no problem.

[Julie Venne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an okay story. Too many "marvelous" and "gay" adjectives for me. And why do so many sentences start with "For"?

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book read differently than one of Thayer's more recent books, Moon Shell Beach. I did enjoy it, but it was very interesting again that one of the main characters, Daisy, who is pregnant with her 3rd child, regularly drinks wine! Anyway, you have a mother, Margaret, and her two daughters, Daisy and Dale. Margaret decides she doesn't want to be married anymore and just takes off, loses weight, cuts and dyes her hair, and begins living for herself. Her ex, Harry, is beside himself. Meanwhile, Daisy, with two kids and pregnant with the third, has convinced herself if she does everything perfect and allows her husband, Paul, to have a woman on the side, that they will live happily ever after. Paul decides he's not too into kids and wants to divorce Daisy to marry the other woman and travel. Then you have Dale, who falls rather obsessively in love with Hank but is so fearful of ending up like her mother or sister, that she denies herself for awhile. There were several interesting conversations throughout the book; how Margaret, who is finally finding herself, realizing at some point she has closed herself off from her daughters because worrying about them takes up time she'd rather be spending doing things she enjoys; Daisy, who is bonding with friends and realizing it was rather nice to tend to just herself and the children, how dinner is much easier to fix without having to factor in a husband; and Dale, who realizes love is very much worth taking a chance on. So, I liked all these self revelations, won't give away how it all ends up, but just a different style than the later book. I enjoyed it enough to start another one this afternoon though!

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nancy Thayer has an immense ability for capturing and conveying the complexity of women. Wonderful story!

From back cover:

"From the surf of Maine to lakeshore Milwaukee to Canada's Pacific mists, each of the Wallace women, a mother and her two daughters, is looking across her treasured home waters to the horizons of change.

Margaret has gone from a matronly doctor's wife who carried everyone's burdens to a svelte single, her hard-won freedom invaded by a compassion she dare not feel.

Her daughter Daisy turns desperately to her mother, pregnant with her third child, her cozy, sloppy, domestic world ripped apart by her husband's elopement with a sexy young journalist.

Sophisticated Dale's heady, obsessive passion for a co-teacher is shadowed by her mother's and sister's divorces. Is this the perilous price tag of love and belonging?

These three women-warm, funny and courageous-are about to ride a bittersweet merry-go-round of joy and pain, love and illusion, reconciliation and rediscovery, in this classic bestseller that has won the hearts of women everywhere."

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mother and 2 daughters struggling at the crossroads of their lives to find their way.It was well and compassionately written, showing the complexities and the ever changing stages of our lives. I sympathised with Margaret and understood how she felt after a life time of putting others first. I have seen my daughter grapple with a similar situation as Daisy's and the difficulties of the single parent with small children. Dale on the other hand has deep felt fears to face and overcome about love and commitment.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it is a book about three women's life, a mother and two daughters. The mother divorced after long years of marriage and falling in love again, a daughter, pregnant with the third chid is divorced and another daughter falling in serious love finally! How more can a family be messed up!?lol. Nancy Thayer slowly shows their struggles and how they help each other. She shows how vulnerable every woman is in this society.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been much better

I did not care at all for this author's style of writing. The characters were so over dramatic and their thoughts so odd, they seemed like psychos. They certainly did think or act not like normal people you or I would know and like. Very strange way of thinking and writing.

[Vicki Bishop · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Nancy Thayers current books ... can't. get enuough. This was an old one. I Somehow plowed through and finished it and it was. with a big sigh of relief when it ended. I liked the women and the story line but. if most of the endless, teidius, unnessary description of everything. was eliminated the book could have easily been a third shorter. I'll stick with Her new books.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the 3rd Nancy Thayer book that I have read...I was really disappointed in it..There was not enough interaction between the 3 characters...It spent too much time on the thoughts of each one instead of intertwining the stories of each together.

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book follows two sisters and their mom as they traverse three very different lives, each with joys and crises. They were believable and sympathetic women, but sometimes the writing left me thinking "OK, I get it, move on." Overall engaging, but not compelling.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old favorite. Three women, a mother and two sisters, at various crossroads in their lives.

[Donna]

really like this author, tho this one was a bit wordy. Like how she gets inside women's minds.