The Marriage of the Sea

"Wrenching and beautifully written . . . A dreamlike, gorgeously watery novel."—San Francisco Chronicle

"[I]ntricate, elegant . . . [T]he connections among the characters, their struggles to know and be known, are revealed in ways that seem exactly right."—The New York Times Book Review

"[E]nthralling . . . positively Shakespearean . . . [A] book of troubling marvels."—The Memphis Commercial Appeal

"As intriguing as the densely interwoven lives of [her] fascinating cast is Alison's literary use of the water that surrounds them . . . The Marriage of the Sea is soap opera en aqua, where the watery surrounds become a metaphor for the fluidity of human life . . . [F]lows with stylistic brilliance."—The Baltimore Sun

"[O]ne of those novels that the reader knows is literature from the very first page."—Islander

"[A] beautiful . . . and affecting novel . . . The prose is lovely and vibrant, its observations precise and revealing . . . The sort of pleasure that many writers do not or cannot achieve."—Edmonton Journal

"Readers of Alison's wondrous bringing to life of Ovid (The Love-Artist) will find here the same highly controlled lushness in a contemporary story that starts slowly but gains power. . . . Ambitious, complex, challengingly intellectual—and yet Alison manages it all with a clarity, learnedness, and rigor that bring into being a creation of real beauty, albeit also of sorrow. Hers is a real and significant attempt, and a real achievement."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"It is Alison's razor-sharp technique for incorporating the essence of her backdrop into the p0personalities dominating her fiction that makes this a uniquely flavored novel drawn from a refined talent."—Booklist

"Alison's poetic sensibility reveals itself in lyrical, intense prose and surprising juxtapositions. Each character's feverish thoughts rise to a crescendo of emotional turmoil and release, and in the process, carry the reader on a sinuous journey of discovery."—Publishers Weekly