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Summerwater

Review

Summerwater

There is not much action but a building sense of menace that is hard to pinpoint in Sarah Moss’ new novel, SUMMERWATER. At first blush, this slim book is a series of character studies, and it is successful just as that. However, Moss drops hints here and there that something will go awry at the Scottish holiday park where her characters are vacationing.

We watch one young girl terrify another one. We are privy to the dark thoughts of a teenager and watch her brother struggle while kayaking in a storm. A mother of two small children struggles with depression, and one child knows that a man has been lurking in the woods. The loud music from one cabin keeps all the neighbors up at night. And a woman named Mary, suffering with a growing forgetfulness, recites the poem that gives the book its title. “The Ballad of Semerwater” by Sir William Watson is the gloomy tale of a kingdom cursed for its inhospitality and lack of kindness.

"The narrative is restrained and controlled, and the story is enigmatic, dark and elegant.... Thoughtful, introspective and powerful, SUMMERWATER is another great outing from Sarah Moss."

SUMMERWATER introduces Justine as she awakens to go on her 5am run through the park, through the trees and by the loch that the cabins circle. She pushes herself to run farther and farther, giving her body a challenge and her thoughts some space. She thinks about aging and motherhood, as well as her neighbors at the park.

Mary’s husband, David, loses his motivation to go for a walk after leaving Mary at a café. He remembers years earlier, when his children were young, walking and hiking around the loch with ease. While the walk has appeal, so does the thought of sitting by a warm fire with a hot drink. When Alex sets out with his kayak, he just wants some space from his parents and sister. But the rain stings and the wind lashes as he is out on the loch, and his arms grow increasingly tired. His eventual return to shore feels epic, but, as with other characters, this vignette is really about internal struggles, and he is alone in the crowded park again.

Most chapters are like this: Moss giving us the perspective of the temporary residents of the park. They worry about growing up, growing old, growing apart and the death that awaits us all. Between each chapter is a short passage where the flora and fauna of the loch have their say, and they, too, are often consumed with survival and threat. There is a simmering of anxiety here, a restlessness, a stirring of anger, and its eventual release is as quick as a match strike and as murky as the loch itself.

The narrative is restrained and controlled, and the story is enigmatic, dark and elegant. The summer residents are as inhospitable as those in the legend that inspired Watson’s poem; they nurse hurts and prejudices as they navigate the murky depths of family, love, self and community. Thoughtful, introspective and powerful, SUMMERWATER is another great outing from Sarah Moss.

Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman on January 15, 2021

Summerwater
by Sarah Moss

  • Publication Date: January 11, 2022
  • Genres: Fiction
  • Paperback: 208 pages
  • Publisher: Picador
  • ISBN-10: 1250829518
  • ISBN-13: 9781250829511