Evening Ferry

Where Towler's first novel, Snow Island, covered a young woman's coming of age during World War II, the second in her triology about an island off the coast of Rhode Island, set during the Vietnam war, traverses the complex path of adult relationships--with spouses, parents, and friends. There are some extraordinarily insightful portrayals of the marriages of both the protagonist and her parents, portrayals that reveal both characters and author to have matured considerably since Towler's impressive debut. There is great wisdom and truth in this novel, as well as multi-dimensional, fully realized characters I had a hard time leaving when the book concluded. As in the first novel, the powerfully evoked island setting plays a significant role, but in Evening Ferry setting takes more of a back seat to the richly textured interplay between past and present, husbands and wives, parents and children. Readers of Snow Island will be pleased to find updates on the main characters in that novel, but Towler is telling a dramatically different story here, a tale that left this reader both fully satisfied and eager to see the direction she will head off in next.

Having devoured the first book in this trilogy, Snow Island, I waited with great anticipation for the second installment about life on Snow. Towler does not disappoint. Evening Ferry is a beautifully written tale about love, the bonds of family, and the secrets that live within and around us all. As with the first book, I was desperate to read past the final page, and now can only wait (with great anticipation) to return to the Island one last time.