Love Water Memory

Publishers Weekly

As the warmly emotional new novel from Shortridge (When She Flew) begins, Lucie Walker finds herself in the San Francisco Bay with no idea of who she is or how she got there. Despite her amnesia, Lucie’s doctors are able to locate her fiancé, Grady, with whom she returns home to Seattle, Wash. As Lucie starts to piece together her former identity, she discovers a person she doesn’t like very much, while it becomes clear that Grady is keeping certain aspects of their relationship secret. But the more she learns, the more she risks unlocking memories buried since childhood. Fans of Shortridge’s work will appreciate this touching story of a woman who recovers her identity while also realizing the cost of repression. They’ll have to swallow some implausible plot turns and dubious character motivations along the way, but most will likely be too interested in Lucie’s slowly unfolding backstory to mind. Agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan, the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Apr.)

From the Publisher

"A wonderful book; lovely....just perfect."

—Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

“Part tense mystery and part brilliant psychological drama, Shortridge’s eloquent novel is a breathtaking story of how well we really know the people we love—and ourselves.”

—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You

"Intriguing, resonant, and deeply satisfying, Love Water Memory takes us into the mystery of one woman's past and her attempts to reclaim both herself and the love she left behind.”

—Erica Bauermeister, author of The School of Essential Ingredients

"Love Water Memory is a beautiful novel about what the mind forgets and what the heart remembers. A story of memories as shadows, elongated and distorted by time, until they eclipse cherished loves, familial connections, and painful truths. A captivating read from start to finish."

—Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

"By the end of page one of Love Water Memory, readers care about Lucie and why she's standing in frigid San Francisco Bay in an Armani suit. Jennie Shortridge's fifth novel moves like a thriller, as along with Lucie we discover what led to her flight from her fiance Grady and her high-powered career. In the hands of a less accomplished author the plot could have become maudlin. Here, it’s credible; Grady is loving but flawed; the pre-amnesiac Lucie not always likable. But they fight for understanding and happiness, and readers will be cheering for them all the way."

—Cheryl Krocker McKeon, Rakestraw Books, Danville CA

"Love Water Memory is slowly and sweetly revelatory as Lucie, coming out of the fog of amnesia, and Grady, finally swimming to a surface without his father, move toward each other in a new recognition of themselves and each other, leaving behind disguises they no longer need. There is laughter and there are tears as these two people learn to trust each other and to be fearless in finding a better, more honest way of loving than what they once knew."

—Valerie Jean Ryan, Cannon Beach Books, Cannon Beach, OR

"Engaging characters, beautiful settings, and a story that keeps the reader’s interest from the very start. Lucie ran away from her fiancé 8 days ago, now she has no memory of who she is or anyone else either. Grady is coming to get her, but he would just as soon Lucie not remember the day she ran. Aunt Helen holds the secrets of a childhood gone terribly wrong. As the characters face the challenges from the past and present, the reader will be rooting for them. These are characters that make you care and a plot line that will not let you go."

—Deon Stonehouse, Sunriver Books & Music, Sunriver, OR

Kirkus Reviews

Rescued from San Francisco Bay with no memory of her former life, Lucie Walker tries to reconnect with her fiance and unearth the dark secrets from her past. Amnesia, that improbable staple of countless mysteries, here receives a 21st-century makeover as "dissociative fugue"--which means, explains the friendly doctor at San Francisco General, "it was brought on by some kind of emotional trauma." That's easy to believe when Lucie's fiance, Grady Goodall, comes to take her home to Seattle, twitching with anxiety and racked with guilt about the big fight they had right before Lucie disappeared. It quickly becomes clear, as Lucie tries to jog her memories by talking with Grady and the neighbors she once shunned, that her pre-fugue self was an unpleasant control freak. Old Lucie, a high-tech headhunter, latched onto Grady while recruiting him for his product development job at Boeing and ran his life ever after: directing what he ate, how he dressed and how they lived--which meant talking as little as possible about Lucie's dead parents, her hated Aunt Helen or the three scars on her thigh that look like cigarette burns. Insecure Grady, son of an impoverished Native American fisherman who died when he was 8, was fine with being bossed around, until Lucie got so obsessive about planning their wedding that he lost his temper and provoked a screaming attack that he fears (correctly) set off her dissociative fugue. The bulk of the novel shows New Lucie, way nicer than she was before, agonizing over whether Grady still loves her (which is blindingly obvious to everyone but her) and slowly reconstructing her past with the reluctant help of Aunt Helen. Heavy hinting makes the final revelation unsurprising, though still shocking. Nor is there much unexpected about either Lucie or Grady, though both are agreeable enough to hold readers' attention through Shortridge's undemanding fifth novel. Predictable, but sweet-natured and mildly absorbing.

Library Journal

Standing knee-deep in the freezing waters of the San Francisco Bay, Lucie Walker has no idea what she's doing— or that she's Lucie Walker. Far from her home in Seattle, just two months from her wedding date and 40th birthday, she has no inkling of what she's run from, who she was, or what has happened to her in the days since she's been missing. As Lucie gets to know her fiancé, Grady, and learns more about her past, she struggles to put together the pieces of her personality. By all accounts, the Lucie she used to be was nothing like the Lucie she is now. Can she and Grady still have a relationship? Most importantly, she needs to know what happened the day she ran, and what triggered her amnesia. As Lucie digs into her past and discovers more than she anticipated, she must keep from falling apart. VERDICT While the premise seems contrived, Shortridge (When She Flew) proves herself in her fifth novel. This is thoughtful, with fully developed characters all around. Recommended for fans of Anita Shreve.—Julie Kane, Sweet Briar College Lib., VA