Community Library Notes: ‘At The Water’s Edge’
“At The Water’s Edge” by Sara Gruen is the story of Maddie, Ellis and Hank. Maddie narrates. In the prologue, we see that Mairi visits the graves of her baby daughter and her husband who died in the same month in 1942. Though her husband was missing in action and his body was never found. Mairi walks into the loch and submerges herself.
At a New Year’s Eve party, Maddie, Ellis and Hank, drunk, plan a trip to Scotland, even while World War II is raging. Both men are 4F; Ellis is colorblind, Hank has flat feet. Ellis’ father is disgusted with his son. Ellis reminds his father of the photos he had faked of the monster in the bog and the shame it brought upon their family. The photos are like blurred images of a drowned dog. Hank decides they will find the monster themselves.
Hank announces he has booked passage for them on a Liberty ship, a freighter taking supplies to the Highlands. He has bought a 16mm movie camera and papers. He says they’ll take photos of the monster and become famous. An old friend, Freddie, whose father is an admiral, made the arrangements. Ellis assures Maddie there truly is a monster. It will make him whole again.
They sail into the Battle of the Atlantic and a ship in their convoy is torpedoed by German U-boats. Their freighter stops to pick men out of the water. Maddie sees horribly injured sailors brought onto the deck. She is affected by this scene and is furious with Ellis.
On land, a driver picks them up and takes them to the Frazer Arms. Maddie is sick all the way there. The three expect the driver to open the doors and to tote their luggage. Author Gruen shows us how spoiled they are. The innkeeper is a tall, gruff, bearded man, Angus. Ellis is glad there is an indoor bathroom but no electricity or hot water. Maddie has no beautician to do her hair, she wraps a turban around her head and joins Ellis and Hank for breakfast, porridge and milk served by Anna. The men leave, excited about their plans to find monster information. Anna says her cousin and aunt have seen the monster.
When Ellis and Hank return, an old man at the bar tells Ellis he’ll not stay where that womanizer’s son stays and he leaves. Ellis’ father had stayed there many years ago and Ellis resembles him. Ellis and Hank go to Inverness. Ellis takes Maddie’s pills which had been prescribed for her nervous ailment. She never takes them. She hears on the wireless how many men have been killed and she feels closer to the war than she did in Philadelphia. Uniformed men and aged vets jam into the inn dining room and bar every night.
The next day, the three set out in a rowboat to find the monster. They go ashore at the castle where previous sightings have been made. Maddie is to shout out when she thinks she sees the monster. But she yells after seeing an otter, a duck, and a floating log. The men are disgusted with her. At the inn, the room is filled with women ready to go to a dance at the Public Hall. A woman wearing nylons is the envy of them all. When they leave for the dance, Maddie wishes she was going too. When she hears that Ellis had won her in a coin toss, she telegraphs her father to come get her. Her life with Ellis has been a fraud, none of it real.
Maddie goes for a walk in the forest and gets lost. She had seen the innkeeper place something on the graves of the family. She hears from her father that he is not coming to get her.
It’s impossible. An air raid siren sends them all to the shelter. Ellis returns and sees Maddie’s clothes are all put in the closet. When she admits she has done this, he warns her about blurring the lines between servant and master.
When Anna gets word that one of her brothers has been killed, she rushes home on her bicycle. Maddie sobs and Angus holds her tight. Maddie learns that Angus’ name is Grant, the same as the names on the gravestones. Had Angus been presumed dead and turned up only missing? Ellis and Hank come to the inn every night roaring drunk. Maddie can’t stand him. He buys her red gloves to match her gas mask bag. Is he really color blind or faking it to avoid the war? The Loch Ness monster is all he cares about.
The night of the Valentine’s Day dance, Rory beats up his girlfriend Meg. Maddie and Angus take shifts at watching over Meg. Angus gives her morphine for the pain. Maddie
is awed by his caring attitude. He tells her boyfriend never to return to the inn. Ellis threatens to lock Maddie up in a mental institution because of her crazy behavior. Just as her mother was years ago. She’s terrified. He’ll also have Angus arrested for poaching meat that Angus has been giving to the starving residents of his town.
Later Maddie goes to the castle and falls into the loch. Ellis and Hank are in the rowboat with the camera. Hank is filming. Something pushes her down into the water. It is Ellis hitting her with an oar. Angus arrives with a policeman and they rescue her, and they take her to the inn.
Does Maddie recover? Do Angus and Maddie remain together? What happens to Ellis and Hank? Author Gruen used her visits to Scotland and a castle there as her basis for this story, and the horror of World War II as the frame for it.
Find this story and more at the Mendocino Community Library, now open three days a week, curbside service only. For more information, call 707-9375773.