From Booklist
Love, loss, and acceptance are explored through the surprising daily routines in a strangely mystical northern California fishing village. Kate, her foster son, Wayne, and her father travel to Seal Bay because Wayne believes that fishing there is his destiny and because Kate has finally given up the search for her son, who was taken by his father 18 years ago. The town is not picturesque, merely fog-enshrouded, but it comes complete with its own psychic witch and a 100-year-old laurel tree that foretells the death of fishermen when a gash appears. The family rents rooms from Mary Lemming, the town witch, and becomes a part of Seal Bay's unusual community, learning about its history and the sad lives of fishermen. Kate and her family find what they're looking for, but the price may be too high as clues to Kate's lost son's life are slowly and painfully revealed. Yorke offers a thought-provoking look at the perils of life and, ultimately, of the hope that follows tragedy.
Patty EngelmannCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Eighteen years after losing her own infant son, Kate Vegas is a foster mother to a seventeen-year-old named Wayne. When Wayne reads about a Northern California fishing village called Seal Bay and decides that it will be his salvation, Kate, her widowed father, and Wayne pack up and move.
In Seal Bay, they find a superstitious, almost primitive life, where wives tremble on the edge of madness when their men are at sea. Where the laurel tree weeps, the fog rolls in, and the seals cry out in the harbor. It is both terrifying and wonderful for all three. Teetering on the edge of tragedy, they discover the miracle of love...
