The color of hope
"Ruth Connelly used to think she had the perfect life - an attractive husband, two children, a partnership in a Boston law firm, and a summer house where generations of her family have reveled in the elemental beauty of the Maine coast. But without her even realizing it, everything has started disintegrating. This summer, there is no escape from the tensions that have surfaced between her, her husband, Paul, and their beautiful, troubled sixteen-year-old daughter, Josie - or from the tragedy that overwhelms them when a long-promised sailing trip turns their son's birthday treat into a nightmare.". "Trapped in a spiral of guilt and denial, Ruth knows only the darkness of grief until she finds the courage to return to Maine and confront her loss. There, she finally learns to understand why we sometimes inflict the greatest pain on those we love the most."--BOOK JACKET.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Mental Health. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Fiction · Mental Health
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest grief and loss, mental-health concerns. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Dark tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
A good fit if…
Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3122-5186-4
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL6780035M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Fiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- What does the central character want, and what do they misunderstand about that desire?
- Which detail or relationship changes how you interpret the story?
- What feeling or question does the book leave with you after the plot moves on?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
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These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
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Why it fits: shares Mental Health and Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
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Why it fits: shares Fiction and Mental Health, a similar publication era.
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Why it fits: shares Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
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Why it fits: shares Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
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Why it fits: shares Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.
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Why it fits: shares Fiction, a similar reading length, a similar publication era.