Water Music: A Cape Cod Story by Marcia Peck – In the flux of youth

Escaping the unbearable heat and fumes of New Jersey lies at the top of the priority list for the Grainger family every summer. They long for the greenery, the soft whistle of ocean air swept inland to cool them down as it sees fit, fresh clams, oysters, lobster if you could afford it, or eels if your tastebuds favoured the delicacy.

More than anything, both girls—11-year-old Lily and 13-year-old Dodie— delighted in the quick access to their relatives for the entire summer; just a short row across the pond to Uncle George and Aunty Fanny’s to play with Nicole, dismissing tenured teenager Digory’s presence whenever the moment arises for the nuisance that he is.

Guided by the music they play, the music of the world around them, they navigate the undulations of their relationships. All the words, harboured thoughts and feelings left unspoken are leashed to the wind then strewn about by a storm, gathering in intensity and darkness over the course of their Cape Cod season. The aftermath of which casts more than just the material to ruin.

Spoiler-Free Plot

Lily belongs to both of her parents, yet her Grainger features have made it easier to win over her father’s love. Their familiarity turned to fact by the coincidence of their constitution, likened to granite—solid, robust, dependable. But her fingers, borrowed from her mother are the tools used to coax forth the melodies of classical pieces from her instrument, the cello, just as much as they aimed to wheedle out pride from her parents.

All summer long, Lily attempts to wedge herself into spaces too small for her to fit: into the twosome born from a closeness in age by yielding small offerings to Nicole and Dodie in hopes of admission into the fold—playing jester, revealing the existence of a triple-trunked tree hideout, her ears, eyes and undivided attention. Into Uncle George’s good graces, weathering the shrapnel of his short fuse. Into Gloria’s glamorous orbit, her approval worth more than silver, not quite as much as gold. Into any vacancy made available within her mother, Lydia’s heart; if only there was a way to loose the brewing rage within to make some extra room for herself. The rage, inherited as a consequence of her own mother’s, Lily’s grandmother BerthaMelrose’s temperament, was stubborn to leave a place it inhabited for so long.

The warmest months of the year are dedicated to the tugging of strings in anticipation of something more. An eventuality. A final outcome. Lily and her music lessons, plucking at her instrument in preparation of a talent show performance. The threads of relationships tightening under the weight of resentments shortened more with each accusation, threatening to finally snap under the crank applied each day, pulling the fibres taut. The prolonged wait creates the perfect storm, where everything descends into chaos all at once.

My Take on Water Music: A Cape Cod Story

To begin with, it would only be right for me to lay bare a personal bias, which affected my opinion of the book before the turn of the first page. I feel a deeply rooted sense of appreciation for literature based in the northwestern region of the United States, or any artistic writing produced by anyone who calls it home. Perhaps I have influenced the pattern that has arisen due to my pre-existing preferences leading me towards books of a certain kind, those with an honest voice that retell everything as it is layering the explicit with the implicit in a way that doesn’t shame readers for not understanding the difference in that immediate moment.

This style of writing is unpretentious, and acknowledges when it is with humility in the places where it has to be. It was made to meet people at their point of understanding whilst secreting parcels of wisdom within itself for readers to find whenever they are ready, at their own time. Marcia Peck has only managed to add to this prejudice of mine.

There are elements of this story that tease more senses than we may have words to describe that I will try my very best to explain.

The use of music whose definition I would like to expand to include the description of natural sounds, or its mention as a tool to filter information from our protagonists surroundings through a medium she understands better than any language is set beautifully into the composition of the story. The way the narrative is presented to us, through the eyes of a growing child, stuck in the awkward stage between the molting of her childish worldview and the acquisition or growth of a new, tougher skin. One reinforced by revelations; all of a sudden, things have more meaning than they were initially ascribed as in the case of Gloria and Uncle George’s relationship, and the true extent of BerthaMelrose’s cruelty, Lydia’s ferocity and Aunt Fanny’s struggles with her mental health.

We all remember the moments when the same film was stripped from our eyes. This story is a salve that soothes the hurt inflicted by that necessary transition as we find solidarity with Lily, for those of us who experienced similar themes as she does.

I could go on and on, but I will leave this here for now. It was a pleasure reading this for the first time and I’m certain it will continue to be every other time I reach for this story when the craving for emotion-stirring storytelling strikes.

Age Rating

14 years and above

Content Warnings

Abuse, Death, Infidelity, Mental Illness.

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