Review: Shallow Breath by Sara Foster

Title: Shallow Breath

Published: Bantam December 2012

Synopsis: How far would you go to save someone you love? Two years ago, Desi Priest made a horrific mistake and destroyed her family. Now, she is coming home to make amends: to her daughter Maya, who’s nurturing her own dangerous plan; to her brother Jackson, who blames himself; and to her close friend Pete, who has spent years shielding her from a devastating truth. But as Desi returns to her beloved house by the ocean, there is a stranger waiting for her. Someone who needs her help. Someone whose arrival will reveal a chain of secrets hidden for over twenty years. And one by one the family will be forced to confront the possibility that they have somehow got things terribly, tragically wrong …

Status: Read from December 15 to 17, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Random House Australia}

My Thoughts:

Bestselling author Sara Foster presents her third novel, Shallow Breath, a compelling story of loss and love.

After two years of incarceration, Desi Priest is finally free to return home and begin making amends for the impulsive act that destroyed her family. While her long term friend, Pete, welcomes her back with open arms, her teenage daughter, Maya, will barely talk to her, neither her father or he brother, Jackson, can look her in the eye and her best friend, Rebecca, may never be able to forgive her.

Unfolding through multiple perspectives, Shallow Breath moves between the past and the present while roaming over five continents. It’s an ambitious range that Sara Foster manages well, building a comprehensive picture of her characters and their passions.

As Desi contemplates her future she recalls her past, her short lived career working with the dolphins of the Atlantis Marine Park, her relationship with Maya’s father, Connor, an American marine biologist who was tragically killed before Maya was born, the dreams she gave up to raise her daughter and the tragedy that led to her prison term.
Meanwhile Pete continues to try and protect Desi from some harsh truths, abandoning his own dreams to support, Maya rebels against her mother’s concern, and Jackson is distracted by the enigmatic Kate, whose secret has the potential to destroy them all.

The author’s passion for animal conservation is a central issue in Shallow Breath, which explores the abuse of kangaroo’s, the horrors of dolphin slaughter in Japan, the threats to the orangutan-tan in Sumatra, the diminishing population of whale sharks off the coast of Galapagos Islands and the hunting of elephants in Africa. Though I felt at times the information crowds the story, the information is thought provoking and inspires compassion for these threatened creatures.

One of the settings of the novel that particularly appealed to me was the West Australian town of Two Rocks where the the Atlantis Marine Park once stood. I have fond memories of visiting the attraction regularly as a child and remember well my delight at seeing King Neptune towering over the entrance on our approach. My family moved to New South Wales in 1988 so I wasn’t aware that the park was closed just a few years later and I was saddened to learn of it’s demise.

An engaging novel that is sure to haunt you, this is an absorbing read. Dive into Shallow Breath – you won’t regret it.

Learn more about Sara Foster and Shallow Breath in the Q&A posted earlier today