Book Review: Learning to Swim, Sara J. Henry
“A small wide-eyed human face ... plummeted toward the water.”
Have you ever asked yourself how far you’d go to help a stranger? To help a child? If you have, LEARNING TO SWIM is for you.
In Sara J. Henry’s debut thriller, Troy Chance plunges into the depths of Lake Champlain to save a child, beginning her journey of discovery. Not only the discovery of who the boy is and why he was seemingly thrown into the lake but her discovery of a maternal bond earned through a shared traumatic experience.
Troy Chance is on a Lake Champlain ferry, heading to Burlington, VT, when she sees something fall from the rear deck of another ferry heading in the opposite direction, “A small wide-eyed human face … plummeted toward the water.” Her instincts kick in, not stopping to think, she vaults the railing and dives in. Rescuing the boy, Troy gets him to shore, where his first word is “Merci.”
English-speaking Troy is flummoxed by the mystery of the boy’s circumstances and her challenge to communicate with him with her limited French. What is his name? Where are his parents? Where does he live?
The hunt for the boy’s family takes Troy from Lake Placid, NY, to Burlington, VT, and north to Ottawa and Montreal, where she’s plunged into a different world of wealth and danger. Her ordinary single life is thrown into chaos.
Considered a psychological thriller, Henry more than delivers a heart-racing yarn with a ticking clock––outpace the bad guys to help the boy. Although thrillers are not my usual genre, it was recommended by a writing-group friend who knows my interest in open-water swimming and overcoming-the-odds scenarios. The sense of place was particularly appealing as a Canadian familiar with all the locations on both sides of the border.
Henry’s writing is accessible, and her characters are well-developed and relatable. And it’s the character aspects that lead to more profound questions that challenge the reader’s beliefs on maternal bonds. Are they instinctive, instant, or earned? However, that subtext does not weigh down the plot, and the reader is propelled forward from its intense opening to a satisfying ending.
A strong female protagonist, a sweet young boy, a dog named Tiger, and a little romance–what’s not to like?
My suggestion is to dive right in.