The Deep End of the Ocean

Photographer Beth Cappadora is far from the ideal mother and wife.
She is harried, impatient, disorganized, and ambivalent about her
husband and her kids—faults that come back to haunt her
after her middle child disappears in a crowded hotel lobby. The ensuing
decade of unbelievable grief and pain, of Beth’s attempt at recreating a
life after her son disappears, is lovingly documented in this
electrifying novel. Like photographs in a family album, scenes from
Beth’s life are offered in startling detail: the scoops of coffee she
forces herself to measure out each day; snatches of conversation between
a husband and wife doggedly trying to return to a normal life; the
cynical observations of her oldest child as he struggles to be noticed
and loved; the “purple elephants” that loom in every family’s living
room—unspoken pain so huge one can only step around it,
for to acknowledge it is too terrifying a prospect. And, like all good
photographs, this one is not without many shades of gray. There are no
easy heroes in this story, although heroism abounds.