The Ocean At Night - Paperback

by Lorna Hollifield (Author)

They're all lost: a teenage girl from the wrong side of the sand, a grieving father with a chip on his shoulder, a ne'er-do-well mother addicted to men, and most literally, a six-year-old girl last seen happily swinging her red sand bucket.

Folly Beach is a barrier island near Charleston, South Carolina made famous for making people disappear. Legends of sunken ships, quarantined drifters, war-time burial grounds, and lost Indian tribes have nicknamed the town, Coffin Island. However, much of the folklore has been entombed by colorful beach shops, greasy crab shacks, and bustling sunbathers. That is until the summer of 2019 when young fossil-hunter, Teal McHone, becomes the last person to lay eyes on a child who was snatched from the shoreline on a hot July evening. Suddenly the small beach town once again lives up to its dark reputation, and the kidnapping ignites a chain of sinister events along the SC coast. Will Teal realize just what she saw in time to save the girl? Or will she lose sight of what's wrong and right, intrigued in equal parts suspicion and adoration with the missing child's father? Can Teal discover the truth in time? Can she discover herself in time?

This coming-of-age, romantic thriller will keep the pages turning as Teal fights to unearth all that's hidden underneath both the sands and souls on this tiny southern beach. The pull of the ocean tempers the pace of her awakening, as well as the fates of all caught up in its enigmatic motion. The question is this: Will the strengthening tide, governed by the moon, pull the lost further out to sea, or finally deliver them safely back to shore?