MALLORY HEART RECOMMENDS: Review: WATER ON THE MOON

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Review: WATER ON THE MOON

Literate women's fiction whose premise is almost unheard-of, WATER ON THE MOON put me in mind of a New England pen sister of Anne Rivers Siddons or Lee Smith. The kind of richly satisfying novel to take to the beach or to a mountain cabin on vacation, WATER ON THE MOON is the story of an older mother of adolescent twin daughters. Lidia is awakened early one morning, in the nick of time to save herself, her twins Carly and Clarisse, and their dog Opal (herself a rescue dog). What can't be saved us their farmhouse, the only home any of them have ever known, the home of four generations. A private plane,with a single female pilot, crash lands on the house--a plane whose flight plan scheduled it to be several states away. What caused this life-altering event?

--Watch for a Guest Post by author Jean P. Moore, right here, Oct. 29!

Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: She Writes Press (June 3, 2014)

Acclaimed Debut Novel, Winner of the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Award for Contemporary Fiction

When her husband comes out as gay and an airplane crash inexplicably destroys her home, the mother of teenage twin daughters must rethink everything she knows.

In her debut novel Water on the Moon, Jean P. Moore introduces readers to Lidia Raven, whose life begins taking seemingly endless wrong turns. Lidia and her girls miraculously survive the plane crash that destroys their home and are taken in by Lidia’s friend Polly, a neighbor with a robust collection of first-edition books who lives alone on a sprawling estate.

Struggling to cope with each of these life-changing events, Lidia discovers a connection between herself and Tina Calderara, the pilot who crashed into her home. In the months that follow, Lidia plunges into a mystery that upends every aspect of her life.

Rife with age-old dilemmas, this contemporary novel explores the relationships between mothers and daughters and the trials and triumphs of women’s friendships. As Lidia learns to reconcile her pain with her need to be true to herself and to accept that need in others, she discovers that while life has the power to unhinge her, it also has the power to open her to new ways of being in the world.

Set off by the poetry of Lord Byron, Water on the Moon received the 2015 Independent Publishers (IPPY) Book Award for contemporary fiction. Book Awards Coordinator Amy Shamroe comments, “Water on the Moon starts with chaos, but the story that unfolds is a carefully layered mystery that allows for meaningful character development. With simple, clean prose, Jean Moore crosses generations to bring a feeling of connection to the seemingly random, tragic event at the heart of the book.”

“A fusion of history, romance, and mystery, Moore’s ambitious debut dazzles. With sympathetic characters who come alive, and with threads of Byron and Earhart cleverly woven throughout the pages, Moore spins a bewitching tale of hope, tragedy, and family secrets.” ~ Lori Nelson Spielman, author of The Life List and Sweet Forgiveness

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About Jean P. Moore

Jean P. Moore began her professional life as an English teacher, later becoming a telecommunications executive. She and her husband, Steve, and Sly, their black Lab, divide their time between Greenwich, Connecticut and the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where Jean teaches yoga in the summers.

Her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals such as upstreet, SN Review, Adanna, Distillery, Skirt, Long Island Woman, the Hartford Courant, Greenwich Time, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Water on the Moon was published in June of 2014 and won the 2015 Independent Publishers Book Award for Contemporary Fiction.