Song of the Seals [Paperback]

Christy Yorke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 2003

Eighteen years after losing her own infant son, Kate Vegas is a foster mother to a seventeen-year-old named Wayne. When Wayne reads about a Northern California fishing village called Seal Bay and decides that it will be his salvation, Kate, her widowed father, and Wayne pack up and move.

In Seal Bay, they find a superstitious, almost primitive life, where wives tremble on the edge of madness when their men are at sea. Where the laurel tree weeps, the fog rolls in, and the seals cry out in the harbor. It is both terrifying and wonderful for all three. Teetering on the edge of tragedy, they discover the miracle of love...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Love, loss, and acceptance are explored through the surprising daily routines in a strangely mystical northern California fishing village. Kate, her foster son, Wayne, and her father travel to Seal Bay because Wayne believes that fishing there is his destiny and because Kate has finally given up the search for her son, who was taken by his father 18 years ago. The town is not picturesque, merely fog-enshrouded, but it comes complete with its own psychic witch and a 100-year-old laurel tree that foretells the death of fishermen when a gash appears. The family rents rooms from Mary Lemming, the town witch, and becomes a part of Seal Bay's unusual community, learning about its history and the sad lives of fishermen. Kate and her family find what they're looking for, but the price may be too high as clues to Kate's lost son's life are slowly and painfully revealed. Yorke offers a thought-provoking look at the perils of life and, ultimately, of the hope that follows tragedy. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Christy Yorke lives with her husband and two small children. This is her third novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (February 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425188248
• ISBN-13: 978-0425188248
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,539,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that will haunt you ~~, March 31, 2003

By 

Busy Mom (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Song of the Seals (Paperback)

If you like stories that out of the unusual ~~ this book is definitely for you. Yorke writes a beautiful haunting story of love and life and death ~~ longings and dreams and heartaches. Kate packs up her father and foster son to an isolated fishing village up in northern California ~~ or as she likes to say, she followed the fog. Wayne read an article in a newspaper about the fisherman's life and enraptured by the lonely life of fishing ~~ he told Kate he was moving up there. Kate agreed to take him and her father followed along.

They come to the village slowly eroded by the salt water and the fog ~~ it is always cold and wet there. People are depressed and very supersititious ~~ and there was the laurel tree that oozes sap and "foretells" a fisherman's death at the sea whenever it oozes. There is the local witch/mystic. The village is not pretty nor is it peopled by friendly people. Undaunted however, Kate, Wayne and Gerald decide to stay and make a go of it. However, as they become ingrained in the village's life and with the residents, they wonder if tragedy would be worth the loss of love.

This is a thought-provoking book. It tells of perils of life and love and hope after tragedy ~~ it is a book that will haunt you with its vivid descriptions of the sea and life by the sea. It will lull you into thinking life is grand then tragedy hits ~~ then you wonder how you'll survive. Kate deals with losing Wayne to adulthood ~~ and deals with the news of her son that was abducted 18 years before. She deals with how to live life again ~~ and inspires those around her to believe in love again. Even after death.

This is one of my favorite books this year. It was by chance that I picked this book up ~~ and I hope to read more of her works ~~ as she is a promising writer who captures dreams and write them down for us to read. And she's a beautiful, lyrical writer. It's a definite must-read!

3-30-03

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Song of the Seals, July 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Song of the Seals (Paperback)

Christy is a beautiful lyrical writer. She holds your interest throughout the entire book and you think you are right in the little fishing town and know all it's inhabitants. I have also read her other novels and am looking forward to the next one.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best I've read, February 4, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Song of the Seals (Paperback)

I bought Song of the Seals based on its cover, and am so glad I did! It turned out to be one of the best novels I've read in a long time. I fell in love with the characters. Kate Vegas has survived one of the worst things that can happen to a woman and mother, and faces whatever comes with strength. The teenaged girls, Jenny and Nicole, were so real and interesting, they reminded me of my own daughters. Even the fishermen struck a chord in me. I couldn't stop reading until three in the morning, and was sad when I was finished. Christy Yorke is a great writer, with sentences that are so beautiful they brought tears to my eyes. I'll definitely get her others.