Silver Bay By Jojo Moyes

  Intriguing, Emotional, Gripping

Genre: Contemporary Fiction/ Romance/Mystery

'Silver Bay' by Jojo Moyes

When Mike is sent by his boss to Australia to check out a site, he is given the address of a 'hotel' that isn't so much a hotel as it is a run-down bed and breakfast, situated in the furthest most corner of a bay. After a few weeks in his new place of residence, Mike feels that he has established a friendly familiarity with the proprietor Kathleen, her niece Liza, and Liza's eleven year old daughter, Hannah. After, initial awkwardnes, due to his reluctance to reveal his purpose for being in a country so far from his own, he eventually finds himself, talking, drinking and relaxing with the whale watching crew of an evening, when they returned from taking tourists out. Mike quickly learns that his reasoning for being there hugely conflicts with everything that the people of Silver Bay hold dear, and to complicate matters further, he begins to harbour feelings towards Liza and learns that this temperamental, unforthcoming, confusing creature, has a dark secret from her past that few people know.

Jojo Moyes never let's me down, although I must admit that this was a bit of a slow burner for me, and I spent the first few chapters wondering if it was all going to be about whales. Jojo has created a cast of likeable and entertaining characters, even the irrepressible Greg, who believes that he and Liza will one day be together, even though she only ever shows him affection when she is inebriated. Hannah is a young girl wise beyond her years, who learnt the hardness of life a very young age. She has a sassiness and confidence about her, cultivated from having to accept some harsh realities, way before she should have had to, with an air of acceptance that only a child who doesn't want to cause further distress to the people around her, would adopt. Liza believes that she is responsible for a tragedy, and to that end she perceives herself and her daughters as fugitives, and that she deserves nothing more the predicament that she finds herself in. However, she desperately wants more for her daughter and worries that may never be possible. She has been traumatised by events, and is reluctant to let anyone into her introspective world, lashing out, but also craving security. Mike is an interesting and constant evolving character, a deep thinker. You get the feeling that he is a bit of a 'fish out of water' (no pun intended), working for his soon-to-be father-in-law at his company in London. His thoughts return to the brief dalliance at the office party, when he is in an important meeting of which he is key. He is there to play the part that is expected from him, and do what he is good at, because he has never considered any other path in life. His devotion to his fiance Vanessa, is not what it should be, and he knows it. Once in Australia, that theory is severely tested by his beautiful surroundings, the relationships that he forges and the clearly troubled Liza. He learns some important lessons as he juggles the demands of his employer, his personal life, and the people of the small seaside town that have become so important to him in such a short time.

I am knocking off a star for the main narratives predictability, but the writing was (as always) extremely compelling, and I was taken aback by the shocking twist. When they all gathered at the airport towards the end, it brought more than a few tears to my eye. Whenever I have found time to read this book during the last few days, it has been very difficult to tear myself away from it. I am and remain, a devoted fan of Jojo's work.