Longshore Drift by Karen Gillece

My Rating: 4 stars Read: October 2007 An honest examination of very human betrayal and weakness in a time of vulnerability. Vividly portrays the power the past can hold over the present, particularly in the realm of love and loss. It is not the story of a child's disappearance, it is the story of the heartbreaking ripple effect this tragedy has on a mother. "In the blink of an eye, in a busy Brazilian marketplace, a small boy disappears without a trace...His mother's free-living existence, travelling South America with her lover and son, comes to a sudden end. Two years later, broken from searching for her missing son, Nacio, and desolate at her lover's departure, Lara returns to her childhood home on the southwest coast of Ireland. As she struggles to come to terms with her loss, Lara once again befriends Christy, her childhood sweetheart, who finds himself increasingly drawn to her bohemian nature. As Lara tries to piece her life back together, never losing hope for Nacio, Christy begins to fall apart. Longshore Drift is a tale of passion and betrayal, of the consequences of searching for love in all the wrong places, and of a heartbroken mother's unswerving conviction that her child will be returned to her - even when all hope seems to be gone." - cover blurb