Whisper Beach by Shelley Noble

A coming of age story. Three girls growing up in a small beach town, how their lives change, how one of them leave and then return and then how an entire story comes together.


Van is fifteen years old. She falls in love and gets pregnant. Two separate happenings, two separate boys. Unable to confide in anyone she leaves town. She now returns for the funeral of the husband of one of her best friends. Her friend seems very needy and despite her intentions of just "showing her face" at the funeral she finds that other than her friend the lady who encouraged, supported her and loved her unconditionally Dorie is in a mess both personally and professionally and Van's assistance would really help to unravel the mess.


Staying on and getting embroiled in the affairs of a small town was not Van's intention but she does get involved and how. Not knowing whether she should even at this stage turn tail and run or face everything head on, she stays and finds out how far love and trust and friendship can be imposed on and how far things can go on between old friends - how much can be forgiven and forgotton or is there a limit to what one can do.


I read this long before Christmas when things were just beginning to get into a frenzy and loved the calming influence of this small town setting. We don't have towns like this where everyone knows everyone anymore - maybe in the more remote villages but certainly not in suburban Colombo and I enjoyed the ambiance of this book.


This was sent to me by Edelweiss.