A review by snoakes7001
Beside the Sea by Véronique Olmi

5.0

Heart-wrenching. The first person narrative of this story of a young woman unable to cope with life, let alone taking care of her children gives it a real immediacy. You are completely absorbed by her inner monologue as she tries to face the world when she takes her two boys to see the sea for the first time, how almost every small challenge defeats her and her fractured attempts at coping as the tale hurtles towards its inevitable conclusion.