SAVING MARINA

A middle-aged mother sifts through the heartbreak and trauma of her past to find herself in Garcia’s spiritual novel.

This debut work begins with a haunting prologue, set near a cold cemetery in 1958. Marina, who’s “not yet a teenager,”is arguing with her mother, Cheralena, about a mysterious lie that’s torn their family apart; she then flees through the dark graveyard just outside their home. She reaches toward the sky and begs to be taken away and its suddenly lifted into the air “like a puppet on a string.” In a similarly jarring manner, in the present day, readers abruptly join a woman named Teresa who’s traveling to Florida from New York with her husband, Michael. Feeling unfulfilled and alone, with her only daughter off at college, she’s decided to chase a lifelong dream of renovating an old property and turning it into a bed-and-breakfast for her to host—a fine profession for someone who wants to be needed. Although her seemingly perfect spouse has his doubts, Teresa is adamant that the B&B is her calling—especially after she lays eyes on Villa Cheralena, a sprawling, picturesque property with vast halls, a mysteriously locked iron gate, and a sordid history. After she moves in, chilling dreams begin to plague her of running through a cemetery, of drowning, of fire, and of other strange things. She somehow knows that these are more than simple dreams and decides to unearth the mysteries of Villa Cheralena, no matter how many ghosts—figurative or otherwise—she may discover there. Over the course of this novel, Garcia truly excels at conveying rich themes of family, trauma, womanhood, and finding one’s sense of purpose on every page. The plot proceeds at an even pace, and each scene feels thoughtfully developed and often captivating. The narrative point of view does change sporadically and sometimes without clear reason, which can be unnecessarily confusing at times. However, the seductive story at the heart of the work shines through despite such issues, and it’s more than enough to keep readers following Teresa on her journey toward her truth.

A pensive and frequently compelling supernatural drama of mothers and daughters.