“The Great Offshore Grounds” is a novel about three half-sisters – Cheyenne, Livy and Regina – who reunite after their father’s death. Desperate to make ends meet, they embark on a road trip to the Gulf Coast in search of a scammer who has taken their inheritance. Along the way, they confront their painful pasts, personal demons, and the harsh realities of American society. The book explores themes of family, identity, capitalism, and the pursuit of the American Dream, all through the lens of the complex relationships between the sisters.
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The Great Offshore Grounds
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Xe Sands
An incredibly unique transnational novel that breaks with a long tradition of family storytelling and throws new light on the myths – national, individual and collective – that motivate and define us.
On the wedding day of their estranged father, half-sisters Cheyenne and Livy set out to claim the inheritance. It’s been many years since the two of them met. Cheyenne has just returned to Seattle, clashing with Livy after a failed marriage and a series of personal and professional stalemates. As Livy works repairing boats, her resentment towards her parasitic sister grows as she extinguishes her dream of fishing off the coast of Alaska. But the promise of a shot of financial security brought the two together to claim what was theirs. Except, instead of money, what their father gives them is information – a name – that forces them to grasp a long-kept family secret. Faced with their new reality, two sisters and their adopted brother, each embark on a journey that will test their beliefs about each other, as well as their definition of freedom.
Moving from the depths of Seattle to the harbors of the Far North, from the refuges of the marshes of the south to the fabled lands of the Great Offshore Grounds, Vanessa Veselka tells a story with boundless vitality, vitality. language and undeniable tenderness.
The Great Offshore Grounds is bold, ambitious storytelling and should be in the conversation for this year’s major fiction awards.
