Book Review: Message in the Sand

Synopsis:

A small town is irrevocably affected by a shocking, unforeseen, and tragic event.

Wendell Combs is as local as they come. Born and raised in the small town of Saybrook, Connecticut, his venture into the larger world resulted in heartbreak. Now he’s a thirty-nine-year-old confirmed bachelor seeking solitude following his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Back in his hometown for eight years, he’s the head caretaker for wealthy Alan Lancaster’s forty-acre estate, White Pines. He has come to love White Pines because of its beauty, as well as the peace and quiet it provides him as he works.

Alan’s eldest daughter, fifteen-year-old Julia, also loves White Pines, but for very different reasons. She and Pippa, her five-year-old sister, spend their days riding horses, swimming in the lake, and painting landscapes inspired by the property they adore.

As her parents prepare to host their annual summer gala fundraiser, Julia is focused on the simple joys of summer. Including Sam, who lives on the next-door property. She longs for their next encounter.

As the last guests leave on that magical summer night, a tragedy no one could have predicted occurs, shaking the entire town to its core. Wendell, along with Julia and Pippa, now faces an uncertain future. As they are grieving, two very different women return to Saybrook. Ginny Foster, Wendell’s first love, has left her job and fiance back in Chicago, and come home for the summer to assist her parents. Candace Lancaster, Alan’s estranged sister, returns from London, appointed to serve as the girls’ guardian. But it’s a responsibility she doesn’t relish. Childless, she knows nothing about raising two girls and wants nothing to do with the town or the family estate.

The only familiar things Julia has to cling to are Wendell and White Pines. But it looks like she’s about to lose both . . .

Review:

Message in the Sand is the eighth novel from author Hannah McKinnon. Her first two books were geared toward young adults. In 2015, her first work of commercial fiction, The Lake Season, was released and since then she has published a summer-themed book each year, including Mystic Summer, The Summer House, Sailing Lessons, and The View from Here. She grew up in New England, where she developed her affinity for nature, animals, and stories involving both. Always an avid reader, she first pursued a career as an educator. But one day, as she read to her students, she looked up to see tears rolling down her cheeks and thought to herself, “Wow, look at the impact this book is having on these kids.” Next she asked herself, “Why aren’t I doing this?” She says she writes stories about “ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. . . . Love, loss, family issues. Real people struggling with real problems. . . . There’s a little bit of everyone in the people I write.”

Message in the Sand is, according to McKinnon, a love story about “the love of small town life, teenage love, rekindled adult love, and what makes up the fabric of family.”

At the center of the tale is Wendell Combs. His mother, father, and brother are all dead, and he resides in the family home that is still exactly as it was when he was growing up there. Wendell suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of his service in Afghanistan and is wracked with guilt because he believes he should have been able to save his brother, who made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Nights are the worst. That’s when the nightmares return, so Wendell doesn’t sleep much. He just wants to be left alone to perform his work at White Pines in solitude, preferring the company of animals to people. He feels he owes a debt to Alan Lancaster he can never repay. When Wendell returned from Afghanistan, Alan gave him much more than a job. He gave Wendell a chance when he needed it most. “One thing he’d learned since being in Afghanistan: there were some questions that did not require answers. Sometimes you just did what you thought was the right thing in the moment. Sometimes that is the only thing you could do.” As the story opens, Wendell has no idea how strenuously his belief system is about to be tested.

Wendell has always been fond of the Lancaster girls, Julia and Pippa, but not particularly close to them. However, that quickly changes after their annual gala. After the party, Alan and his beautiful wife, Anne, decide to take a drive in Alan’s classic T-Bird. The next morning the car was discovered crushed against a tree. And just like that, Julia and Pippa are orphans.

Before long, Alan’s sister, Candace, arrives from London. For reasons no one understands, Alan and Anne appointed her to be the girls’ guardian should anything happen to them. But the girls have never even met Candace, and she clearly has no idea how to comfort or care for them. She is largely disinterested in their desires, determined to liquidate her brother’s estate quickly and return to her life in London, taking Julia and Pippa with her.

But Julia will have none of it. White Pines is the only home she and Pippa have ever known, and Julia becomes Pippa’s protective caregiver. Julia is determined that she will find a way for her and Pippa to remain at White Pines, even if that means she must secure the services of an attorney and attempt to become emancipated.

Roberta Blythe is a reclusive retired probate judge. Fourteen years ago, she stepped down from the bench. Never married and childless, she has secluded herself ever since, voraciously reading books regularly delivered by Amazon. She is haunted by the last case that landed on her docket. She remains close to Wendell, whose mother was Roberta’s best friend. And one day she is shocked to find Julia on her doorstep, seeking advice.

When Wendell returned to Saybrook, Ginny Foster thought they would resume their relationship. High school sweethearts, Ginny quickly became part of the Combs family, often joining Wendell, his father, and Wesley, his brother, for dinner, bringing lightness and laughter back to the home in which Wendell’s mother died of breast cancer. Ginny studied business at Providence College, and Wendell pursued a degree in biology and environmental studies at the University of Vermont. When they graduated, they were formulating plans for their future — they were going to move to Boston where Wendell would work at a law firm and save money to attend law school, and Ginny would work in commercial real estate. But back home, Wesley was struggling — drinking, jobless, and kicked out of the house by their father. When Wesley began attending Alcoholics Anonymous and joined the National Guard, Wendell announced that he had to enlist, too, in order to protect his younger brother. Near the end of their two-year enlistments, both brothers were deployed to the Middle East. Only one of them came home, and he was no longer the man Ginny had known. Their relationship fell apart, and Ginny moved to Chicago. But with her father recovering from surgery and her parents’ real estate company floundering, Ginny has come home for the summer to help them and regroup after leaving her job and long-time fiancee behind.

McKinnon’s intriguing and empathetic characters find themselves facing circumstances and challenges they could never have imagined. Julia and Pippa are mourning not just the loss of their parents, but the end of life as they have known it thus far. Their grief is compounded by the callous manner in which Candace goes about performing her duties as their guardian. Likewise, Wendell will likely lose the job he loves, and suits him and his needs perfectly, in addition to the man who was much more than an employer to him. Ginny is at a crossroads, as well. She’s not sure she wants to stay in Saybrook indefinitely, but there’s nothing for her in Chicago any longer. And her parents are getting older and struggling to hold onto the business they built. She has the skills to vitalize their marketing and operations so that their company can compete with the other local firms. Saybrook was recently named New England’s “best-kept secret” and developers are eager to capitalize on the beautiful setting. They tried before, but the red spotted turtle, a rare species, was discovered in the wetlands. In Native tribe folklore, turtles are sacred, symbolizing good health and long life. In fact, it was Wendell’s father, who had served as first selectman of Saybrook, who managed to hold off the contractors at his mother’s urging. “Permits were stalled. Paperwork was misplaced. And all the while Charlotte Combs faded. She’d been laid to rest in the cemetery for just a week when the first dozer clambered up the grassy flank of the meadow and broke ground. Somehow his father had kept them at bay just long enough.”

McKinnon places obstacles to happiness in each character’s path. Julia and Pippa want to remain at White Pines. Wendell wants to stay on, as well, if there is a way that can work out. Constance is negotiating with a shady developer who wants to hastily obtain approval to subdivide White Pines, but the prospect is controversial and divides the townspeople. Will the turtles bring better luck this time, stopping the development of White Pines? Ginny and Wendell reconnect, taking tentative steps toward rekindling their romance. And Roberta agrees to assist Julia, but not without warning her that her chances of success are not good.

McKinnon, a mother of two teenagers, compassionately reveals Julia to be an endearing and exasperating combination of woman and girl. Stubborn, defiant, and determined, she alternates between childish tantrum-like behavior and surprisingly wise and mature judgment and decision-making. Her voice is absolutely perfect — her tone, tenor, and the language she uses to express herself typically adolescent: charming and infuriating. Above all, Julia is a loyal and devoted big sister to Pippa, intent on protecting and caring for the vibrant little girl who has been rendered virtually mute, withdrawn, and confused by the shock of losing her parents. Julia will not be deterred, believably exploring every avenue available, never too proud to ask for support and assistance from the adults she knows and trusts, some of whom prove to be disappointments. Wendell convincingly watches Julia’s struggle as new and uncomfortable feelings stir within him, and cause him to question whether the future he envisioned for himself remains viable. Ginny ponders whether a second chance will end up in the same heartache she experienced years earlier, while Roberta glimpses a path toward redemption.

McKinnon cleverly includes intrigue, small town politics, and a very serious ethical dilemma for one character, all of which further complicate matters and bring what might otherwise be a predictable resolution to the conflict into doubt. McKinnon’s affection for her characters is evident on every page, as is her admiration of the setting that is so critical to the story’s success. She explains that the tale was inspired by the beautiful lake region of Connecticut where she and her family reside near an estate after which she modeled White Pines. “It’s the perfect place for a man like Wendell to seek respite. And also the perfect place for a young family to be raised.”

And the perfect place to set a heartwarming and uplifting story about a group of people who unexpectedly find their lives intertwined in surprising ways. As they navigate the aftermath of tragedy, each of them must decide “what White Pines means to them and why; and what extent they will go to to protect it.” And each other. In the process, each character is transformed, having confronted their assumptions and beliefs about loss, friendship, and what it means to be a family.

Message in the Sand is an entertaining, engrossing, and uplifting story about people that readers will find themselves attached to and cheering for. An ideal summer story.