James and Natasha - Paperback

by Kathryn Balteff (Author)

In the coastal fishing village of Balsam Cove, Maine, lobsterman James Edward's life is unmoored after the sudden death of his beloved wife. Alone, he's struggling through the motions of everyday life, floundering in grief and guilt. His grown children have drifted away. He's isolated himself from friends and neighbors. At best, his sternman is unreliable. Even the cat ran off.

Young Natasha arrives from Boston in her mother's old Subaru to stay with dysfunctional grandparents she's never met before. Her father's disappearance also took away her home, the city, and her friends. Only when she rides her mom's childhood bike down to the rocky shore can she find solace or peace.

Intrigued by the mystery girl who shows up by the dock almost every afternoon, James sets out to find what wind the precocious child blew in on. As the unlikely new friends grow closer, their families become more intertwined. Soon a tangled web of past and present, loss and grief, and family secrets surface while social issues and illicit activities threaten not only the sheltered community, but their very lives.

Told in alternating perspectives of the main characters, James and Natasha is contemporary, character-driven novel set in a small coastal Maine town. Themes of grief, family, resilience, and community are explored through the intersecting lives of the two main characters; James, a widowed lobsterman, and Natasha, a precocious young girl who has newly arrived in town with her mother.