Advertised as “a powerful novel of love, duty and second chances,” The Ocean Between Us does its best to pull readers’ heartstrings. Although this was a polished and well-written novel, I found it really hard to empathize with a heroine whose life seems so perfect.

Grace Bennett appears to have it all: three wonderful, healthy children, a stable marriage, and a life of travel to exotic places as her husband Steve’s Navy career advances him from location to location. The opening of the novel actually brings us close to the conclusion, in the sense that we first meet the couple after the rift has already grown between them, and we don’t know why. As such, we are drawn into the story, with unanswered questions as to the origins of their tension whetting the readers’ appetite for more. Soon after, Steve is involved in a tragic accident. After that, the novel reels back to a time nine months previous, when the problems between Steve and Grace were just starting to surface.

Grace and Steve Bennett seem to portray the happy, well-rounded all-American family that most people strive for – their twins are about to graduate from high school and go on to college, both looking forward to promising futures. Their youngest, the bookworm, is still processing the rigors of her new school on Whidbey island, a naval-based community that sees many such families come and go. We soon realize that Grace’s apparent happiness is all a façade. She has let herself gain weight, and what with moving all the time and supporting her husband and children’s demanding lives, she doesn’t bother much with her appearance. Although both she and her husband had agreed that the time was not yet right for them to purchase a fixed address, when Grace accidentally stumbles on the perfect house, suddenly everything changes.

All at once, it seems the answer to her prayers. Until she views the house, she is unable to put her finger on the dissatisfaction that eats away at her life. Now she knows that she needs to put down roots. However, when she presents the idea to husband Steve, he is completely unsupportive – the idea of purchasing the house goes against their agreement to wait until his career is more stable. Yet Grace’s 40th birthday is rapidly approaching and she realizes that if she continues to put her needs last, she will never change her life. Her kids are all growing up and moving on, yet she doesn’t feel her achievements are worth anything. This is compounded when an unknown son from Steve’s first marriage turns up under his command, and Grace is furious that not once in their decades together has Steve even mentioned this brief ill-fated marriage to her. When Steve is called back on duty, they part unhappily and with unresolved tension keeping them from their former closeness. Steve’s answer to emotional problems, due to his troubled childhood, is to ignore them or distract his wife with sex. His character is very well portrayed, and I could well understand Grace’s frustration with her authoritative husband.

However, Grace uses his absence to make some changes to her life. She joins a gym, gets a makeover, and uses her relocating experience to open up her own relocation assistance company, and gets her first customer, the sexy and charming Ross Cameron. She also purchases the house with the proceeds from a major contract, without Steve’s consent, and begins setting roots down which she is determined will last. Even her children are aware that something is wrong with their parent’s marriage.

The kids get their own subplots. Brian is determined to become a cartoonist, rather than joining the Naval Academy and following in his father’s footsteps. Emma seems to be doing very well, except for her lack of direction in life, and problems which develop with her suitor, who is the son of her Dad’s superior officer. When her new half-brother turns up, he has some interesting advice for her. Meanwhile, Grace is getting more and more involved with her major client, and, as the novel progresses, we see many secondary characters all experience their own problems. The action builds up to a climactic denouement, when a tragic accident on board Steve’s vessel involves each character to some extent.

The major problem I had with this novel was the pettiness of the supposed conflict, although it was extremely well-written and the level of detail concerning life with the Navy was faultless. Though Grace was like many of the ordinary, down-to-earth women any one of us might know and therefore relate to, I failed to understand exactly why her problems seemed to be so serious that they would detract from the fact that she had a lot of positives in her life – amazing chemistry with a devoted husband, three healthy, normal children, financial stability and an exciting lifestyle. I felt that Grace didn’t appreciate how good her life was. Obviously, the tragedy at the end of the novel does bring a measure of real pain into her life, but it still wasn’t enough to give this novel, about ordinary growing pains and a mid-life crisis, enough impact.

I feel that when a writer of this caliber, capable of such vivid description and excellent prose, writes about such a weak plot, the reader is not getting the full benefit of her talent. In my opinion, the author herself was aware of this fault, and to remedy it she plunged Emma into a dire situation towards the end of the novel. The way this was clumsily jackhammered into the novel, and them facilely resolved, is what knocked this novel from B to C status. I couldn’t in all conscience recommend such a novel to AAR readers, though as I have stated, it is well-written.

My colleagues here on the site tell me that Ms Wiggs’ older, historical novels are the place to go to see all that promising talent fulfilled – and I will certainly be perusing her backlist to judge for myself. Though this novel might pass an interesting afternoon or two, with relatable characters and enticing description, it is not powerful enough to really resonate with its readers.