Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh
Summary
Witch’s apprentice Bridey Corkill has hated the ocean ever since she watched her granddad dive in and drown with a smile on his face. So when a dead girl rolls in with the tide in the summer of 1913, sixteen-year-old Bridey suspects that whatever compelled her granddad to leap into the sea has made its return to the Isle of Man.
Soon, villagers are vanishing in the night, but no one shares Bridey’s suspicions about the sea. No one but the island’s witch, who isn’t as frightening as she first appears, and the handsome dark-haired lad Bridey rescues from a grim and watery fate. The cause of the deep gashes in Fynn’s stomach and his lost memories are, like the recent disappearances, a mystery well-guarded by the sea. In exchange for saving his life, Fynn teaches Bridey to master her fear of the water — stealing her heart in the process.
Now, Bridey must work with the Isle’s eccentric witch and the boy she isn’t sure she can trust — because if she can’t uncover the truth about the ancient evil in the water, everyone she loves will walk into the sea, never to return.
Book Details
Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh
On-Sale Date: October 11, 2016
Young Adult Fiction \ Fairy Tales & Folklore
Sky Pony Press, 312 pages
Source: Publisher
My Rating: 4 Stars
Some secrets are better left at the bottom of the ocean.
Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh brings to YA a lyrical and atmospheric read set on the Isle of Man during the early 1900’s where mystery and romance collide in this haunting tale of magic and legend.
The sea did strange things to people. It played tricks on the mind. Its vastness hid things. . . . Bodies. Secrets.
Bridey Corkill has avoided the sea every since it lured her grandfather into its watery depths as if he was called by some siren. No one paid much attention to a little girl’s dire warnings of strange things beneath the ocean but when those memories are brought back by a young woman found drowned on the beach, Bridey knows in her heart that whatever compelled her Granddad to leap to his watery death has returned to the Isle of Man.
As more people begin to vanish from her village, Bridey sees something beneath the water and it is the local wise-woman Morag who tells Bridey the legend about a sea creature which has haunted the shores of Man. Things become more complicated when a handsome boy washes up on shore with no memories and gravely wounded, causing suspicion and threats from the locals. Bridey knows she must fight past her fears and reveal what really lies beneath the Isle of Man’s waters.
With the Isle of Man as a setting, rich in local folklore and legend, author Marsh has created something unique and exciting in Fear the Drowning Deep. There is a wonderful, historic feel to it. Mystery and romance are threaded throughout, while Bridey is a young heroine to love for her daring. The mystery of the dead girls, Flynn’s arrival and the legend that unfolds from the local wise woman, all kept me curious throughout. What readers are going to enjoy the most, in the end, is the lush prose and vivid imagery, all wrapped up in a magical romance and chilling mystery.
