Karen White

You will never be truly happy if you keep holding
on to the things that make you sad.
– Karen White, The Sound of Glass

Beachcombers treasure sea glass.  Edith Heyward in The Sound of Glass by Karen White obsessively made sea glass wind chimes which she hung on the porches of her late husband Calhoun’s family’s home in Beaufort, SC.  Calhoun was an abusive attorney who died when he smashed his car into a tree at about the same time a plane exploded in the sky over Beaufort dropping a mysterious suitcase on the Heyward’s home.

The couple’s son C.J. grows up to be an abusive attorney like his daddy.  His son Cal becomes an abusive firefighter.  Yes, domestic violence is a family legacy akin to bad DNA.  The women in their lives form a reluctant, subconscious sisterhood which culminates in a jaw-dropping plot twist I never saw coming.

No, I’m not going to tell you any more about the plot because I don’t want to spoil it for you.  The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that all the women seemed to improbably live quite comfortably without earning any income.  But, what the hell.  It is a terrific beach book.  Who wants to be bothered with work when we’re looking for a great escape, eh?