At the Water's Edge

 

At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen
 

The very first word in this book had me hooked.   Drumnadrochit.  I know the what’s and where’s of Drumnadrochit.   It’s a small place in Scotland, on the shore of Loch Ness.  And we were there! So, yes, immediately, I was hooked.

But it didn’t take long before I was pulled into the story.  Set during World War II Ellis and Maddie Hyde, a very mismatched couple, find themselves ostracized from Ellis’ wealthy family in Philadelphia.  Ellis, a cad with a capital “C” decides the only way to win his way back into his father’s graces, and his bank account, is to go to Scotland and find the Loch Ness monster for real.  Not the one his father faked finding years ago. 

Maddie, Ellis and Hank, Ellis’s other half, travel the u-boat infested Atlantic to Scotland and set up shop in a small inn on the shores of the Loch.  Ellis and Hank’s snobbery turns everyone against them. The villagers can’t quite accept two able bodied young men such as Ellis and Hank not being in the war.  Ellis is color blind and Hank has flat feet.  War has reached all corners of Europe and the little village of Drumnadrochit is no exception.  Maddie who is left behind during their excursions endears herself to the people in the village by helping out, learning, and sharing. 

Whether you believe in the Loch Ness monster or not, many have tried to either prove or put to rest the stories.  Don’t decide because of the setting and the legend that this book isn’t worth your time.  It turns out that monsters aren’t just in the lake. 
 

This book was made available through Edelweiss Above the Treeline