The Winter Sea

I love family sagas that move back and forth between the older generations and the current characters. I have never read Di Morrissey, but I'll be looking for some of her older books. This novel starts in Sicily as Giuseppe emmigrates to Australia. Cassie is reeling from her husband's affairs and leaves their law firm and moves to Whitby Point on the coast, where she starts a small restaurant and falls in love with Michael, the local veterinarian. The writing in this book is extraordinary and I feel like I'm friends with everyone in this small town. I enjoyed the history of the fishing fleets and the way of life in extended Italian families.

The Winter Sea by Di Morrissey. Published by St. Martins

September 26, 2014 by cayocosta72 Leave a comment

After her marriage dissolves, Cassie sees no reason to stay on at a job she dislikes, so she takes the opportunity to make a fresh start. She moves to a small town in coastal Australia called Whitby Point. Cassie is soon swept up into life with the boisterous Aquino clan. The family has deep roots in the small town, going back almost 100 years to when their ancestor Giuseppe started their fishing business. Cassie and Michael, great grandson of the company founder, soon find themselves falling for each other. But when the family patriarch dies, a secret is revealed, one that threatens Cassie’s future with the family. What could be so damaging? Cassie intends to do whatever it takes to find out.

This was a wonderful story of second chances and family secrets. Highly recommended

Highly recommended. I'll definitely make this book a purchase for the collection. It's a classic family saga, but there's nothing dated about it-- the author approaches a well-worn genre with freshness and skillful writing.

This is a beautifully written and captivating novel that will not let you put it down until the last page has been read. This story begins many years ago and allows the reader to become acquainted with the family at the heart of the book before moving to the present.

Through multiple years and generations, this story bends and weaves around the D'aquino family as well as a main character that you can't help but love for her personality and passion for life.

This is a book that I found it easy to get lost in and didn't want to put down. It has been a long time since I got so involved in the lives and world of characters that I forgot about my own, but the break was appreciated.

This author has a certain talent for painting pictures with words and allowing you to really get a sense of the character's intentions and emotions. If you are looking for a book with a quick pace and a lot of action, this will not be your thing, but if you enjoy generational family tales with secrets, amazing writing and a lot of heart, this will be perfect for you.

Simply put, it is a wonderful book.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher and was provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Cassie Holloway moves to the small Australian town of Whitby Point, opens a restaurant and falls in love with Michael, who is the great grandson of Guiseppe, an Itslian immigrant who founded the family's fishing business more than ninety years ago. When he dies, a secret comes to light that may destroy Cassie's hopes and dreams. Relationships, family, and love make this a wonderful new women's fiction book.

Mystical, compelling and spellbinding are just a few words that I would use to personally describe The Winter Sea as I absolutely fell in love with this story! It is brilliant, magical and completely swept me off my feet! Having finished this book I have zero doubt that Morrissey is one of the best storytellers of the modern world!

I honestly cannot remember when I read a story that was this good. When I selected this novel for review I already had high hopes (hopes that were not let down) because I had heard so many wonderful things about this author. As a reader who had never read anything by the author before I am glad that the first book I discovered was this tale.

Most of the time I prefer novels that do not contain as much descriptive writing as this author clearly uses in her writing style but I have to say I think I've changed my mind because Morrissey does it so well. I personally do not believe that every single author could pull this off, in fact most probably couldn't because it would take the foundation of the plot like in The Winter Sea in order to convince me to use such a technique.

As I write this review I can only think of one, solid flaw with this book and that flaw lays within the dialogue. There were times when the dialogue continued longer with selective characters than what I was prepared to see. This is where this flaw gets complicated for me because the longer dialogue does tend to highlight the story causing it to flow more easily throughout the book. Still, this was something that stood out to me as being somewhat difficult as a reader, but should not convince any reader not to read this book.

Whether or not you are a reader that participates in reading challenges at the start of each new year or not if there is one book that you should add/read this year it is The Winter Sea!

The primary reason I selected this book, was due to the fact that Australian authors rarely let me down in the fiction world. This was no exception...Di Morriseey had an interesting and unique voice and a beautiful way of bringing the Italian immigration to Australia to life for me. This was not an area where I had a lot of knowledge, so I thought this would be a fun book to read. I learned a lot about the fishing industry of the 20th century, the Italian immigration to Australia and the internment of Italians in Australia during WW II. To counter-balance the historical story line, there was also a contemporary romance/mystery. Cassie fled Sydney and her impending divorce for the quiet coastal town of Whitby Point and more specifically yet, the little Blue Shed at Blue Crane Lake. The author had a way of bringing the town to life and made the food seem real, so much so that I spent much of the book hungry. Our author is either a foodie or just a brilliant writer...probably both! Though the book did drag at points while the author tried to connect the two stories...you really came to love the characters and their respective histories. I look forward to reading more books by this author.

I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review