BOOK BY: Erin Bartels
The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water is a poignant story that examines the spiral effect of failed friendships and how we all are antagonists in another person’s story.
Kendra Brennan is experiencing overnight success with her debut novel, but there is one reader who isn’t willing to accept her story as fiction. Confronted with an accusatory letter by a disappointed reader, Kendra heads to her grandfather’s cabin on Hidden Lake where the seeds of her story had taken root. It is there she finally faces her past – facing the unforgiveable and coming to grips with her role in her tragic past.
This is a difficult story to read as the topics addressed are painful to hear – trafficking, rape and suicide. In reading the author’s notes, readers are informed of her own tragic experiences dealing with these situations. So there is sensitivity and a rawness that is exposed on the pages of this fictional account.
The narrative reads as a letter, though readers are unaware of the addressee for several pages. It’s an interesting way to invite readers to a more intimate glimpse of the fictional author’s life, and how life’s circumstances play out. It gives readers insight as to how a valued friendship broke down as the main character wrestles through her memories of their summers spent on Hidden Lake.
This is not an uplifting read, but it’s a pensive one. The obvious lack of a faith thread saddened me as the tragedies the characters experienced left them hopeless and looking to other means to quell the pain. Characters were left to their own devices and never really seemed to have a resolution to their own part in Kendra’s story. Instead, choosing paths that led to more destruction and pain.
I received a copy from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.