Returning To Shore by Corinne Demas

Returning To Shore by Corinne Demas
Published: March 1, 2014

Publisher: Carolrhoda Lad TM

Pages: 208

Received: from author for honest review

Buy Now: Amazon

Her mother's third marriage is only hours old when all hope for Clare's fifteenth summer fades. Before she knows it, Clare is whisked away to some ancient cottage on a tiny marsh island on Cape Cod to spend the summer with her father—a man she hasn't seen since she was three. 

Clare's biological father barely talks, and when he does, he obsesses about endangered turtles. The first teenager Clare meets on the Cape confirms that her father is known as the town crazy person.  

But there's something undeniably magical about the marsh and the island—a connection to Clare’s past that runs deeper than memory. Even her father's beloved turtles hold unexpected surprises. As Clare's father begins to reveal more about himself and his own struggle, Clare's summer becomes less of an exile and more of a return.

This book is a pretty quick read, though not fast paced. Clare is swept off to visit with her biological father right after her mother walks down the aisle for the third time. Clare misses her first step-father more than words can say and she is completely uneasy with seeing her Dad again for the first time in forever.

Clare goes through some typical teenage moments during her stay on the island, like being slightly embarrassed about who her father is, falling to a bit of peer pressure (but also knowing when to stand up for herself) and finally acceptance of her parents choices. 

There is one moment when she is with some local kids and they are saying some completely inappropriate and rude things about people that she does not find amusing, but she is afraid to say anything against them. She keeps quiet while inside she is screaming that they are rude and hurtful. It means so much more to her that people be more accepting of others since her father confides some very personal struggles with her that he has been holding in for so long.

Over the course of the story Clare and her father have this awkward friendship that slowly blooms into an amazingly sweet father-daughter story. It's definitely worth the read.

About the Author:
Corinne Demas is Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College and a fiction editor of the Massachusetts Review. She has a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

She is the award-winning author of thirty books, including five novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir, and numerous books for children. 

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