The Ocean Between Us (Mira) [Hardcover]

Susan Wiggs (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mira | Publication Date: April 1, 2004

After eighteen years of marriage, Grace Bennett is tired of her Navy captain husband Steve's lack of emotional support for her and their children, and Grace must decide whether or not to make a new life for herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A midlife marital crisis threatens the stability of a squeaky-clean navy family in Wiggs's latest, which overcomes a listless, saccharine start thanks to a rousing finale aboard an aircraft carrier. Steve and Grace Bennett look like the perfect military couple: Steve, a former pilot, has become an ambitious officer, and Grace successfully cares for their three bright, talented kids while he's deployed. But rips appear in the marriage fabric when Grace, seeking more in life, starts a relocation business, begins a fitness program and buys a small but lovely house near the Seattle base they temporarily call home. Wiggs's light, engaging style keeps the story moving in the first half, despite too many syrupy family scenes and a far-fetched subplot in which Josh, a fledgling pilot under Steve's command, is revealed to be his long-lost son from a brief, ill-advised teen marriage. This revelation widens the gap between Grace and Steve, who never told her about wife number one, and Wiggs balances their turmoil with a subplot involving their oldest daughter, Emma, and a hunky but predatory high school boy whose father is Steve's boss. But the tension isn't all emotional: Josh goes on a training exercise that nearly turns deadly, and Steve, trying to stop a deadly fire aboard his aircraft carrier, gets swept overboard into the icy Pacific. While Wiggs tends to nip suspense in the bud and linger on overripe romantic sentiments, her characters are sympathetic and her tale of frayed loves mended is sure to strike a responsive chord in a maturing audience.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Steve Bennett is a perfect navy officer with a perfect navy family, and he's confident that his world is just the way it should be. But his son wants to be an artist instead of attending the U.S. Naval Academy, and his stalwart and capable wife of 20 years, Grace, is tired of being the perfect navy wife. She wants her own home, and she wants her own career. She's feeling altogether unsettled, but nothing is more unsettling than the secret her husband has hidden from her their entire marriage. Nothing, that is, until the accident on the carrier. Wiggs has done an excellent job of depicting what lies beneath the surfaces of relationships--assumptions, misunderstandings, and expectations. She's created a family in emotional transition and has explored their feelings so well that we feel as if we know her characters. Readers who enjoyed Dee Holmes' The Boy on the Porch (2003) and LaVyrle Spencer's Home Song (1994) will also enjoy this emotion-filled novel of military life. Shelley Mosley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Mira; 1St Edition edition (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778320359
• ISBN-13: 978-0778320357
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,747,398 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Susan Wiggs's life is all about family, friends...and fiction. She lives at the water's edge on an island in Puget Sound, and she commutes to her writers' group in a 17-foot motorboat. She's been featured in the national media, including NPR's "Talk of the Nation," and is a popular speaker locally and nationally.

When her recent novel, FIRESIDE, hit #1 on the New York Times, the author reportedly reacted to the news by "putting on my lipstick and sweeping the patio." Why? Because she knew that within a matter of minutes, her girlfriends would show up to pop the bubbly and help her celebrate. [Update: FIRESIDE has been chosen of one of Amazon.com's Top Ten Romances of 2009.]

According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with "refreshingly honest emotion," and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is "one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book." Booklist characterizes her books as "real and true and unforgettable." She is the recipient of three RITA (sm) awards and four starred reviews from Publishers Weekly for her books. Her books make frequent appearances on Amazon's "best of" lists. Several of her novels have been listed as Indie Next picks and optioned as feature films. Her novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages and have made national bestseller lists, including the USA Today, Washington Post and New York Times lists.

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, engrossing story, May 6, 2005

By 

Patricia Kay "author and avid reader" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ocean Between Us (Mass Market Paperback)

It's always amazing to me that readers can have such different reactions to books. I confess, I'm mystified by those readers who didn't like this book, because I loved it. The depiction of Navy life was incredibly realistic and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about what it's like to serve on a carrier and/or land a plane on a carrier. I also loved the Pacific Northwest setting, which Ms. Wiggs brought alive so beautifully. But what I enjoyed most about this book were the characters. For me, it's ALWAYS about the characters, and Steve, Grace, Brian, Emma, Katie, Josh, and Lauren crept into my heart and stayed there till the very end, with me rooting for them all the way. This book is beautifully written and a real page-turner. Bravo, Ms. Wiggs! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Her best book yet, March 30, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ocean Between Us (Mira) (Hardcover)

For two decades Grace Bennett has been the perfect navy wife to her beloved Steve while traveling the globe when her husband gets restationed and raising their three delightful children. So why is the devoted family matriarch feeling worthless and dissatisfied? Perhaps it is simply that her youngest is in ninth grade and like her older siblings needs mom less, but Grace thinks it goes deeper as she believes it is her identity that she lost.

Steve is bewildered by Grace's sudden change of heart towards him, as he believes that his career proves how much he cares for his family. Now deployed, he knows his marriage is in jeopardy especially since Grace has established a communication black out. He refuses to accept that he lost her without going down fighting as he loves his wife and children, but panics that Grace will not be there when he redeploys. When Stephen's ship is in troubled waters, Grace may not have a choice whether to remain a sailor's spouse with the overseas danger to her husband and the rest of the sailors on board.

THE OCEAN BETWEEN US excitingly plays out on two levels. There is the conflict between Grace and Stephen that serves as a reminder of how much family members sacrifice so that their loved ones can serve in a military that constantly ships out to hot spots (whom else but the military and their family have really sacrificed anything for the Global War on Terrorism?). The second theme is an action subplot that shows how dangerous the world is. Both the relationship drama and the naval suspense thriller combine to make a terrific thought provoking tale.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hoping for more, April 15, 2005

By 

need to read (new york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ocean Between Us (Mass Market Paperback)

I just spent an hour writing a great review only to lose it!! So this will be short and sweet! It was a wonderful story. I loved it and want to hear from these charming and very real people again in a second or maybe third book Ms Wiggs!!!!
My husband was in the military for the first ten yrs of our marriage and I was quickly taken back to that period where I experienced many of the things Grace went through. She captures the heart and minds of the military people with excellence and detail. I especially appreciated her recognition of the sacrifice and endurance of our amazing military personnel and their loved ones at the end of the book. It's a good story for corporate families who face moves and any family who faces scruitiny and sacrifice for their jobs. Keep writing contemporary novels Ms Wiggs! You're great at it!