Marriage to the Sea: Linked Novellas

by Sarah Stone

In Marriage to the Sea, the Zamarins, a Jewish family of artists and activists, navigate the eco-crisis, political turmoil, personal losses, and the afterlife. In their love stories and adventures—spanning Paris, Venice, and a dreamy phantasmagorical underworld—each of them searches for the overlap between what the world needs and what they have to give. When Katya, a rebellious bi+ sustainability activist, is visited by her father’s ghost one night, she decides he’s urging her to change her life. She and her youngest sister Arielle—a recovering addict and Shakespearean actress past her ingenue sell-by date—head to Paris on a quest to help his environmentalist heroine, and, along the way, they discover unexpected new loves among the living and the dead. Their Aunt Julia (a TV villainess returned to experimental theater) also falls recklessly in love, just as her meddling brother—and the whole theater company—arrive to stay with her. At every turn, the characters are forced to navigate a world in which the sea is rising and new social movements are taking shape.

375 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2026

Reviews

[G.P. Gottlieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the two novellas that comprise Marriage to the Sea (Sarah stone), characters grapple with grief, survival, and worry. Shortly after their father dies, two of three sisters whose mother was killed in a random shooting a few years before, have picked up and gone to Paris despite their lack of jobs or money. One is exploring the path of environmentalism their father encouraged, the other sinks into an unnamed sleeping sickness. Then their aunt, who was injured in the shooting that killed her sister, suddenly marries, learns that all her money has been embezzled in a Ponzi scheme, and realizes that her new husband is having an affair. These two linked stories are about family ties, identity, finding love, and trying to fix an ailing planet. https://newbooksnetwork.com/marriage-...

[Beatrice Y. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three women talking — about life, and in the afterlife

Loved this book. Above all, “Marriage to the Sea” for me is about the way the lucky families talk to each other, that is, constantly, deeply, and (mostly) with loving acceptance of each others’ imperfections. It helps that the three women in this tale — two sisters and an aunt who’s found trash TV fame — are theater people. With an assist from Shakespeare, Stone gives them great lines. If you’re a writer, consider this a masterclass in how to write sustained dialogue that takes you to unexpected places.

[Bobby Keniston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first novella fascinating and engaging, with some excellent writing.
The quality of the writing remained in the second of the linked novellas, but, alas, for me, I did not find it nearly as interesting, or the relationships as well explored.
But again, that's me.