Undertow - Softcover

Stegner, Lynn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880909421 ISBN 13: 9781880909423

Publisher: Baskerville Pub, 1996

Synopsis

Anne McBain, a 27-year-old scientist, must learn to overcome the years of incest she experienced as a child

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

When 27-year-old marine biologist Anne McBain discovers she is pregnant, she realizes her affair with eminent scientist Elliot Newhouse is at a turning point: either Elliot must leave his wife or Anne must end the affair and have an abortion. The next day Anne learns of her father's death, and as she travels to a remote Pacific Northwest island to scatter his ashes, this second crisis precipitates memories of sexual abuse by her father and of selfish, manipulative behavior by her mother. The burdens of past and present converge until a mindless one-night stand prompts Anne to a decision that frees her from her past even as it is ironically determined by it. First novelist Stegner (she is Wallace Stegner's daughter-in-law) evinces a fine-tuned sensitivity for complex emotions, but at times the abstract descriptions of Anne's feelings overpower the concrete events rather than add depth to them. At the core, though, Stegner's is a profoundly insightful, refreshingly honest portrait of dilemmas that will resonate for many women. Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Anne McBain, a marine biologist working with Elliot Newhouse, the head of a research team investigating the northern elephant seals in California, discovers she is carrying Elliot's child. During this crisis, Anne's father, Malcolm, who sexually abused Anne for years, dies of a heart attack. These events force Anne to begin a personal journey, rediscovering the awful truth of the sexual abuse as well as its denial by her mother, Nellie. Determined not to follow Nellie's self-indulgent path, Anne steps away from her fear and incapacity toward a final affirmation of herself. Interwoven in this elaborate plot are rich metaphors and detailed descriptions of the Pacific Northwest landscape and fauna. Though the characters themselves seem generally less endearing than the overwritten narrative, this promising first novel is worth adding to general fiction collections.
- David A. Berona, Westbrook Coll. Lib., Portland, Me.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Baskerville Pub
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1880909421
• ISBN 13: 9781880909423
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 367