The Silver Boat by Luanne Rice

Jacket Design
by Roseanne Serra

Viking
Pamela Dorman Books
Published by The Penguin Group
ISBN-10: 0670022500
ISBN-13: 978-0670022502

Dar, Delia and Rory have not seen each other since their mother's funeral.  They have returned the family's summer beach house in Martha's Vineyard to remember happy memories and get the house ready to be sold.

The year Dar turned 12 her Irish-born father sailed off on his own to return to Ireland to find something important but he never returned. Dar took her father's leaving very hard.  

Each of the sisters has faced their trials and tribulations over the years but the have always been the happiest when they were at "the vineyard."

While cleaning up and packing up the house a packet off letters is found that sheds light on why their father returned to Ireland.  With the information in the letters the sisters decide to travel to Ireland to find the answers as to what happened to their father and hoping maybe even to find their father. The trip changes the girls and their perspective of their entire lives. It helps to bring them closer and all their relationships stronger. 

I haven't read a Luanne Rice novel in awhile and this was the perfect one to get me back on track.  Her writing of family dynamics seems effortless.  The story flows beautifully.  The characters are ones you become invested in easily and the settings are beautiful. I wish the sisters would have spent more time in Ireland.  Having an Irish grandfather who I never had the privilege to meet drew me to the wonderful descriptions of the places the girls traveled.  The added humor of learning to drive on the "wrong side" of the road and shifting with their left hands was added at just the right moment as their arrival to the land of their father could have been a really heavy moment.  You will feel the entire gambit of emotions reading this book, all in the exact perfect amounts.  This is definitely a book that will end up on your keeper shelf as the story is truly timeless and can be read again and again. 

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Viking, a division of Penguin Publishing. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”