THE LAST TRUE POETS OF THE SEA

Tavia Gilbert's expressive narration shows careful attunement to the emotions of 16-year-old Violet, who is sent for the summer to Lyric, Maine, a town noted for her great-great-great-grandmother's survival of a shipwreck. Gilbert deftly portrays the wreck that is Violet. She's sarcastic and jaded on the surface but suffering and vulnerable underneath after her brother's suicide attempt and a year of wild drinking and empty sex. Gilbert deftly portrays secondary characters and gradually shows Violet thawing through her uncle's kindness, the friendship of locals, and her investigation of her ancestral past. These renew and restore her sense of self and her creativity. Gilbert smoothly differentiates Violet's nuanced feelings, deepening her emotions as she falls in love for the first time with Liv. S.W. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2019]