After their daughter is ripped from them by the Boxing Day Tsunami, Christine and Gary Emmett hunt through Phuket, Thailand, trying with increasing desperation to find Tamsin; or find her body.
When a village contact reaches out to say he's found Tamsin, alive, they make a journey. A journey that could see them reconnect with their lost daughter or face the truth that she's lost to them, forever.
When a village contact reaches out to say he's found Tamsin, alive, they make a journey. A journey that could see them reconnect with their lost daughter or face the truth that she's lost to them, forever.
Not that long ago I was watching a Japanese news channel (preparing for my trip to Japan) when a story came on that caught my interest. A Thai couple, who had lost their daughter in the Indian Ocean tsunami, remarkably found her alive and well over ten years later. It was an incredible story that genuinely moved me. When I read the description of The Breaking Wave by Katherine Hayton I was instantly reminded of that story and I was intrigued enough to request a copy of the book for review.
From the first page it was instantly apparent that The Breaking Wave was not going to be an easy book to read. Katherine Hayton, to her credit, doesn't hold back, she doesn't try and protect the reader from the harsh reality of this event. After all, we have all seen the destruction, carnage and loss of life a tsunami produces. We all watched in utter horror as waves swept through the Indian Ocean and a few years later, Japan. This is not a book to be enjoyed, the descriptions were at times horrific. The author firmly puts you in a devastated Thailand a few days after the event and she described the sights, the sounds and the smells with brutal clarity.
Katherine Hayton's writing sure packs a punch. It was horrendously vivid, full of emotion and well structured. I truly felt for these characters and for the people they met on their journey.
Despite all that I felt that it didn't count for much because this story is so incredibly short. This book was seriously hindered by it's length. It is only 62 pages long and it took me under and hour to read. Even the best author in the world would struggle to build characters and relationships that mean something in that number of pages. I think that Hayton did really well but I remained distant from the characters. I didn't understand them and everything that should have had impact (in terms of plot) lacked it because there wasn't the time to build it up, to really draw in the reader.
As a full length novel this could potentially be both fantastic and heart-breaking. I think Katherine Hayton has the potential to be a great author. I cannot wait to see where she goes from here.
From the first page it was instantly apparent that The Breaking Wave was not going to be an easy book to read. Katherine Hayton, to her credit, doesn't hold back, she doesn't try and protect the reader from the harsh reality of this event. After all, we have all seen the destruction, carnage and loss of life a tsunami produces. We all watched in utter horror as waves swept through the Indian Ocean and a few years later, Japan. This is not a book to be enjoyed, the descriptions were at times horrific. The author firmly puts you in a devastated Thailand a few days after the event and she described the sights, the sounds and the smells with brutal clarity.
Katherine Hayton's writing sure packs a punch. It was horrendously vivid, full of emotion and well structured. I truly felt for these characters and for the people they met on their journey.
Despite all that I felt that it didn't count for much because this story is so incredibly short. This book was seriously hindered by it's length. It is only 62 pages long and it took me under and hour to read. Even the best author in the world would struggle to build characters and relationships that mean something in that number of pages. I think that Hayton did really well but I remained distant from the characters. I didn't understand them and everything that should have had impact (in terms of plot) lacked it because there wasn't the time to build it up, to really draw in the reader.
As a full length novel this could potentially be both fantastic and heart-breaking. I think Katherine Hayton has the potential to be a great author. I cannot wait to see where she goes from here.
3 stars
Find out more
The Breaking Wave by Katherine Hayton.
Published October 31st 2015
A free copy of this book was provided for free in exchange for an honest review. Image courtesy of Goodreads.
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