At Sea

April 1, 2022

DEBUT A woman has to separate fact from fiction if she wants to recover what she's lost. Cara and Brendan meet when she's just out of college. Brendan is charming and funny, and she falls fast and hard for him. And at first it's good. They marry and have a son, and if there are moments when Brendan's behavior seems a little strange, Cara believes in him--even when he tells her he's been part of a U.S. Special Forces team and the subject of top-secret experiments that allow him to breathe underwater for long periods of time. She knows it sounds far-fetched, but she's seen him do it. She believes that until the day he and their baby son, Micah, disappear. Five years later Cara has rebuilt her life, but she still holds out hope her son can be found. When she hears of a sighting of a man and a child at sea, she's convinced it's Brendan and Micah and will now do all she can to find them. VERDICT Fedor's moody debut explores the depths of love a person can feel and the toll that grief and mental illness might take on those emotions. For readers of Diane Chamberlain and Sally Hepworth.--Jane Jorgenson

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Starred review from May 23, 2022
A young woman falls in love with a fishlike man in Fedor’s mesmerizing fantastical debut. Unable to find a job or internship after college, Cara stays at her aunt and uncle’s house on Martha’s Vineyard, a haven with fond memories of summers with her now-deceased mother. She meets Brendan, a member of the Army’s Special Forces, who reveals that his superhuman ability to stay underwater for long periods of time is the result of gill-like enhancements made by the military. Though Brendan’s mood swings and abrupt disappearances are concerning, Cara falls for him and abandons her plans to move in with a friend in New York City. After getting pregnant with Brendan and giving birth to their son Micah, Cara stays with Brendan until he and Micah abruptly disappear. Five years later, Cara is still living on Martha’s Vineyard and married to Graham, a comparatively stable guy whose “style is based entirely on comfort and practicality.” Still, she never gives up hope that she will find Micah, especially after a local fisherman says he saw a man and a boy swimming together far out in the ocean, and when she runs into Brendan at her art gallery. Fedor’s neatly plotted narrative keeps the pages turning, and Cara’s emotional pull toward her lost family makes the far-fetched conceit feel believable. This sparkling debut will hook readers. Agent: Wendy Sherman, Wendy Sherman Assoc.

January 6, 2023
Cara just wants to escape, from her island home on Martha's Vineyard, from her fractured and absent family, and even from reality. Then she meets Brendan, a military man with a troubled past and a secret. Brendan believes he can breathe underwater, and Cara "drowns" right there with him, becoming pregnant with his child shortly after college and eschewing her dreams of moving to New York with her best friend. But when Brendan absconds with their son, she must make a new life for herself and face the many truths she's been avoiding. Fedor's debut is told in multiple time periods, which doesn't always feel necessary, and could have been more balanced. The story also fails to pass the Bechdel test, which takes measure of whether two women speak to each other about something other than a man; in a narrative with a strong thread of domestic abuse, this feels like a miss. Ultimately, Fedor does succeed in luring readers deep into the mysteries she creates, then brings them safely back to shore.

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