In The Foam Of The Blue Waves
In a precarious forest shack over California’s Russian River, two women wait out a storm and reflect on the third, missing, member of their family: the husband, the father, the wandering troubled soul. Nicholas is a missionary who traveled from Nevada to California as 19 year-old intending to do the church’s work, with documentation in his hand and uncertainty in his heart. What he finds in the fields of California is a landscape of fertility and destruction: a lush world beset by natural disaster. Drawing on childhood thoughts and memories to craft this unique work of fiction, author Kathleen Wakefield allows her own experiences in Morro Bay and in a cabin by the Russian River to shape her novella. In poetic, compelling language, Wakefield shows readers what it is to look at the edge of the world and the longest and most beautiful place in the universe.
Reader Birute Putrius says, “In her book, In The Foam Of The Blue Waves, Kathleen Wakefield writes so beautifully about the watery world of the Russian River, a place that trembles in the light of sun glinting against water. Her characters search for the mystery of life, search for answers to the questions we’ve all asked ourselves during the long dark night of the soul. Wakefield’s writing is so wonderful, so lyrical, thoughtful and thought provoking. Just a beautiful book. Like an extended poem about all the BIG questions in life.”
From the Curator
Kathleen Wakefield’s novella haunts me. Months after reading the book, her desolate landscape and peripatetic characters are still wandering through my imagination. Her book is a beautiful elegy to a different world, a gorgeous fever dream.