Still Waters is Lindsey Brackett’s debut novel set on Edisto Island, South Carolina. This story will capture your heart and your mind. You won’t be able to put it down. Lindsey does an amazing job capturing the essence of the low country. She doesn’t just paint a pretty picture with her descriptions. Instead, her characters seamlessly interact with the environment, making the setting more of a character than a place. As a native of coastal Georgia, I felt right at home.
The story unfolds layer by layer as the characters learn how their histories intersect and form their present-day lives. In a last-ditch effort to force Cora Anne to face her past and heal from her unwarranted guilt, her grandmother Nan bribes Cora Anne to spend the summer helping her repair the family’s beach house, Still Waters. While Cora Anne organizes family photos, she discovers more mysteries than answers about her family’s past. With Nan prodding her to spend more time with the handsome, talented, and compassionate Tennessee Watson, Cora Anne begins to let go of her guilt and her fears. She encounters what truly matters in life, and realizes all the rest is as fleeting as a sand castle built at low tide.