Waiting to Surface

by Emily Listfield

Book Overview

Based on the author's own experiences a "heartrending" (People) and haunting story about a magazine editor and mother whose life is changed by a phone call revealing that her husband has vanished without a trace.

On a steamy August morning, Sarah Larkin drops her six-year-old daughter, Eliza, off at camp and heads to her office, where she works as an editor of a women's magazine. She is sitting at her desk testing a $450 face...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416537856
• ISBN13: 9781416537854
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

WARNING: You won't want to put this book down!

Sarah, the intelligent and resourceful main character, separates from her husband. In the midst of the resulting emotional turmoil, she is balancing a high-pressure career with the demands of newly single parenthood. So far, she is the contemporary Everywoman. Then she gets the phone call that changes her life. Sarah continues to attend to her job, her child and the day-to-day details of her life, even as her entire world is turned on its head. The novel and its characters seem very real, to the extent that the reader has the slightly awkward sensation of having eavesdropped on many private moments. In fact, this novel is apparently based on the author's own life experience. Without giving anything away, it is safe to say that Waiting to Surface offers an excellent. realistic portrayal of a character in crisis. Life goes on, of course, and some mysteries are never solved, but the journey is compelling and believable from first page to last.

Excellent - Keeps you guessing to the very last page!

An unusual book for the mystery lover. Waiting to Surface is about the alleged disappearance of a husband who leaves behind only an airline ticket, pieces of a sculpture and two drawings. Is it an accident, suicide, homicide or something else? Listfield keeps you guessing to the very last page.

powerful family drama

Sculptor Todd Larkin travels to Florida to visit his girlfriend. Soon afterward the police call his estranged wife of a decade Manhattan magazine editor Sarah informing her he has disappeared after going for a midnight swim. Apparently his Sunshine State girlfriend let four days lapse before calling the cops. Although she wonders if Todd is alive, Sarah is more worried for their six years old precious daughter, Eliza who she fears will be permanently traumatized by the apparent tragedy as their child was still struggling with her parents' separation. Still as Sarah tries to be there for Eliza, she takes a chance professionally and personally. She knows she must never forget Todd but she rationalizes that this is for Eliza's sake, but deep in her gut she knows his memory is important to her too. Based on a true tragedy that happened to the author, WAITING TO SURFACE is a character driven haunting tale that asks what people do to cope and help their preadolescent children adjust when closure is unavailable. The story line grips you from the onset as Sarah struggles three months after Todd vanished with how to help Eliza while ignoring her own grief, which in turn eats at her gut. This powerful family drama shows how much love hurts yet means so much when an unexpected loss occurs. Harriet Klausner

A Compelling Read

A sensitive and beautifully written story that explores our deepest fear: What if someone you loved disappeared, seemingly vanished off the face of the earth? At once a page-turner with Law & Order like twists and a haunting exploration of what we know--and may never know--about the person we married, this is one of those books you keep thinking about long after you've read the last chapter. Pitch-perfect scenes between the mother and her young daughter and an insider's view of the magazine and art worlds make this a must-read.

Emotional Tsunami

Emily Listfield writes from the heart as her heroine, separated from a difficult husband, tries to unravel the mystery of his disappearance and possible death. As Sarah works to balance Manhattan motherhood (the scenes with her young daughter Eliza are the book's most poignant,) the necessity of succeeding at her chic magazine job and ultimately, dating, you will ask yourself what YOU would do in the grip of similar emotional limbo. A well-written and well-paced novel.