Love Water Memory

February 4, 2013
As the warmly emotional new novel from Shortridge (When She Flew) begins, Lucie Walker finds herself in the San Francisco Bay with no idea of who she is or how she got there. Despite her amnesia, Lucie’s doctors are able to locate her fiancé, Grady, with whom she returns home to Seattle, Wash. As Lucie starts to piece together her former identity, she discovers a person she doesn’t like very much, while it becomes clear that Grady is keeping certain aspects of their relationship secret. But the more she learns, the more she risks unlocking memories buried since childhood. Fans of Shortridge’s work will appreciate this touching story of a woman who recovers her identity while also realizing the cost of repression. They’ll have to swallow some implausible plot turns and dubious character motivations along the way, but most will likely be too interested in Lucie’s slowly unfolding backstory to mind. Agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan, the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency.

January 15, 2013
Rescued from San Francisco Bay with no memory of her former life, Lucie Walker tries to reconnect with her fiance and unearth the dark secrets from her past. Amnesia, that improbable staple of countless mysteries, here receives a 21st-century makeover as "dissociative fugue"--which means, explains the friendly doctor at San Francisco General, "it was brought on by some kind of emotional trauma." That's easy to believe when Lucie's fiance, Grady Goodall, comes to take her home to Seattle, twitching with anxiety and racked with guilt about the big fight they had right before Lucie disappeared. It quickly becomes clear, as Lucie tries to jog her memories by talking with Grady and the neighbors she once shunned, that her pre-fugue self was an unpleasant control freak. Old Lucie, a high-tech headhunter, latched onto Grady while recruiting him for his product development job at Boeing and ran his life ever after: directing what he ate, how he dressed and how they lived--which meant talking as little as possible about Lucie's dead parents, her hated Aunt Helen or the three scars on her thigh that look like cigarette burns. Insecure Grady, son of an impoverished Native American fisherman who died when he was 8, was fine with being bossed around, until Lucie got so obsessive about planning their wedding that he lost his temper and provoked a screaming attack that he fears (correctly) set off her dissociative fugue. The bulk of the novel shows New Lucie, way nicer than she was before, agonizing over whether Grady still loves her (which is blindingly obvious to everyone but her) and slowly reconstructing her past with the reluctant help of Aunt Helen. Heavy hinting makes the final revelation unsurprising, though still shocking. Nor is there much unexpected about either Lucie or Grady, though both are agreeable enough to hold readers' attention through Shortridge's undemanding fifth novel. Predictable, but sweet-natured and mildly absorbing.

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January 1, 2013

Standing knee-deep in the freezing waters of the San Francisco Bay, Lucie Walker has no idea what she's doing-- or that she's Lucie Walker. Far from her home in Seattle, just two months from her wedding date and 40th birthday, she has no inkling of what she's run from, who she was, or what has happened to her in the days since she's been missing. As Lucie gets to know her fiance, Grady, and learns more about her past, she struggles to put together the pieces of her personality. By all accounts, the Lucie she used to be was nothing like the Lucie she is now. Can she and Grady still have a relationship? Most importantly, she needs to know what happened the day she ran, and what triggered her amnesia. As Lucie digs into her past and discovers more than she anticipated, she must keep from falling apart. VERDICT While the premise seems contrived, Shortridge (When She Flew) proves herself in her fifth novel. This is thoughtful, with fully developed characters all around. Recommended for fans of Anita Shreve.--Julie Kane, Sweet Briar College Lib., VA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2013
In the opening scene of Shortridge's fifth novel, a Seattle woman is found standing knee-deep in the San Francisco Bay, dressed in a designer suit, her memory wiped clean. She soon learns that she is Lucie Walkersmart, organized, a bit of an ice queen, and engaged to marry Grady Goodall on her fortieth birthday. The new Lucie must rediscover the old onenot an easy task when she's kept any details of her childhood from Grady, including how her parents died and why she no longer speaks to her aunt Helen. Shortridge skillfully crafts evocative settings, from the gardens of Seattle's neighborhoods to the clean lines of Lucie's furniture, and the complexities of a relationship mending itself amid so much mystery. Chapters alternate between Lucie, Grady, and Aunt Helen, who is the least frequent but strongest of the narrators, odd and off-putting but with a wonderful hint of humanity under her bitter, aging shell. The piecing together of the lives and secrets of Shortridge's characters makes for a thoroughly satisfying read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)