A HAND TO HOLD IN DEEP WATER

A young mother returns home in the face of a crisis and uncovers her family’s troubled past in this debut novel.

Nocher’s book begins with 5-year-old Tasha asking her mother, Lacey Cherrymill, where her grandmother is. Lacey can only respond, “I just don’t know.” In fact, Lacey’s mother, May, abandoned her, leaving her with her stepfather, a kindhearted farmer named Willy. Although Willy raised Lacey as his own child, he still feels “gullies” between them. After a long time away, Lacey visits Willy’s Maryland farm and seems to want to escape her stressful job, but soon the first of many truths is revealed: Tasha has leukemia and a long road of treatments nearby is about to begin. Willy’s farm soon becomes the base for disjointed family members striving to support one another, including Lacey’s ex-boyfriend Mac—Tasha’s father—and his daughter from a former marriage. Even as they all grow closer and Lacey and Willy find surprising promise for new relationships, the specter of May and the question of why she left them to fend for themselves persist. Nocher alternates between the present day and May’s own journal entries dating from the 1970s, which slowly reveal the turbulent and shocking circumstances that brought Willy and Lacey together. Between the disturbing secrets hidden in May’s journal and Tasha’s heartbreaking medical ordeals—such as the child asking Lacey if they can glue her hair back on later—the author does not pull any tragic punches. But readers ready to shed more than a few tears will find a wealth of complex characters. Willy and Lacey have a relationship that feels both unlikely and entirely real, while May’s journal entries, written in the voice of a lost teenage mother, are as authentic as they are haunting.

A devastating family drama driven by engrossing and believable characters.