Up from the Sea: A Whose Waves These Are Novella

Up from the Sea is a wonderful prequel to Whose Waves These Are, the author’s debut novel. Her writing style and amazing descriptions show Amanda Dykes’ gift as a storyteller and enable the reader to “see” the people and places in Ansel-by-the-Sea in Maine. The characters could come to life at any second, the tale of the girl in the forest is intriguing, and what Savannah, Alistair, and her cousins find is stunning. If Whose Waves are These is even half this good, it will be fabulous! The year is 1925. Both of her parents have passed, and Savannah leaves Georgia for her uncle and aunt’s home in Maine. She inherits all that had belonged to her mother on the property, including the huge home her relatives now allow her to live in with them, an impressive expanse of forest, and tales her mother told her when a child. This includes a map that should lead to a castle and a special old tree in the forest where a young woman hid a treasure 151 years earlier. The folks in this part of Maine are mostly city people who amassed funds to build summer mansions. When Savannah abandons a dance at the club to go to the forest, she meets Alistair Bliss, a lumberjack who prefers living in the forest to being around the beautiful people. When her cousins come to take her back, Alistair finds it hard to forget her. She relates the story she learned about the long-ago young woman, who with a prayer buried the treasure box, and it is a different version than what anyone here has heard before. Her cousins, somewhat bored and adventurous, put together a hike to the mountain and look for what is known as the Atonement Tree. Savannah wanted to look for the castle and tree, but not with this group. The land would be hers in two years when she was of age, and she had plenty of time to explore on her own. As the cousins prepare to leave, her uncle tells Savannah that he has investigated doing with her inheritance what his wife, Savannah’s mother’s sister, did with her portion of the inheritance. He has legal right to oversee it as he sees fit until she is of age, and he wants to sell it to purchase stock on margin. He sends her with her cousins, telling her that if she finds one good monetary reason to keep it, he will not sell her land. Savannah hires Alistair to lead the group. They might not find what they expect, but they will discover all that the Lord wants them to – beyond what they might imagine! I highly recommend it to those who appreciate adventure, intrigue, and US history.