I wouldn’t say Di Morrissey is a lazy author but The Winter Sea has a real paint-by-numbers feel to it.
An everlasting love, a new love and a family secret roll around together in this plot as the lead character Cassie Holloway, fresh from a divorce, heads to Whitby Point in New South Wales.
A lost dog leads her to her new love, a vet called Michael.
He also happens to be the great-grandson of Giuseppe d’Aquino – one of the main stories in the book as we hear how he left Aeolian Islands off the coast of Italy to make a new life in Australia.
His story is critical to developing the back story and explores his life as a new immigrant in Australia and how he founded a fishing dynasty.
Overall, all of the characters have their part to play but they all tend to be a bit beige. There are no real twists and turns that leave you eager to keep turning the pages.
The Winter Sea is a nice distraction, but Di Morrissey, you are capable of better.
Report card? Needs more work, better try harder next time.