Luanne Rice, The Edge of Winter

The Edge of Winter

Luanne Rice

Bantam, Feb 2007, $24.00

ISBN: 0553805274

After a terrible divorce from Richard, Neve Halloran and her teenage daughter Mickey move to Rhode Island's South County where both hope to find solace. Neve meets Ranger Tim O'Casey and though recently burned by her ex-spouse, she is attracted to the caring, kind-hearted man. Mickey goes head over heels, albeit bike, when she meets Shane West.

Shane and Mickey are also attracted to one another, cemented by a cause to prevent the removal of a sunken Nazi U-boat in the way of a development project. As the new relationships help all four heal from hurtful pasts, each wonders where they are going. With Tim's caring, Neve has moved past Richard; while with Neve's caring Tim has begun to reconcile with his estranged father. Mickey finds Shane's love of the coast helps her move beyond feelings of paternal abandonment while she, a loner, finds a companion in Mickey. No one, including anyone in the community, will realize that as spring comes to life, that u-boat will provide a fathoms deep secret of the past that will impact the present and future of everyone.

THE EDGE OF WINTER is an interesting, well-written character study as four somewhat broken souls mend through love and the ecosystem cause. The quartet are all fully developed protagonists so that the audience can see the healing metamorphosis of each, especially when they band together to save the ecosystem. Though the two romantic subplots seem a bit too sugary, readers will enjoy this profound family drama played out on the beautifully described New England coast.

Harriet Klausner