Saltwater Redemption

Book excerpt: Saltwater Redemption is a fictional memoir concerning the life experiences of its protagonist, Mayson Darcy, set in in Avalon, New Jersey. The plot tracks Mr. Darcys attempt to rediscover the golden innocence hed experienced as a kid growing up down the shore, revolving around his nineteenth summer living with a group of new friends and old acquaintancesa group of gender-segregated collegians who pick themselves to live in a summer shore house and have their lives recorded by a mad diarist. It explores the romance and magic of seashore living, as well as the perennially relatable themes of ones search for God, romantic love, and friendship. The novel begins with Maysons first recollection of swimming in the ocean, out past the drowning waters with his mother as a young child in Avalon, and ends with him venturing forth, out beyond the bow into an eternity of moonlight. In between, the narrative recounts some chronologically hopscotching recollections, including his enduring (and at times unrequited) love for three graceful ladies: Grayce Bateman, Lyrica Le Fay, and Sadie McGoldrick. Saltwater Redemption highlights the timelessness of certain settings: places to which we often return to escape from the manifold insanities and belittlements of the world in order to discover where we essentially belong. Above all else, Saltwater Redemption is poetically written filled with much humor and heartbreak, as well as a deep-seated admiration for the ocean and its manifold heroines, concerning a life inevitably crested in one timeless Arthurian locale.