When an abandoned lobster trawler is found adrift off the coast of Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula, DS Joaquin Moralès begins a straightforward search for the boat's missing captain, Angel Roberts - a rare female in a male-dominated world. But Moralès finds himself blocked at every turn - by his police colleagues, by fisheries bureaucrats, and by his grown-up son, who has turned up at his door with a host of his own personal problems.
When Angel's body is finally discovered, it's clear something very sinister is afoot, and Moralès and son are pulled into murky, dangerous waters, where old resentments run deep.
Exquisitely written, with Bouchard's trademark lyrical prose, The Coral Bride evokes the power of the sea on the communities who depend on it, the never-ending struggle between the generations, and an extraordinary mystery at the heart of both.***
Angel Roberts wakes with a start to the crash of a lobster trap tearing the water's surface in two. THE BRIDAL GOWN
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(@OrendaBooks, 12 August 2020, 355 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 11 November)
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I'd never heard of the author before, but the blurb made this sound like a terrific read and I had to get involved in the #BlogTour. I really loved this book. I will definitely need to read the first book featuring Moralès, We Were the Salt of the Sea. I didn't want to stop reading The Coral Bride once I started. The book has a great opening, a woman is about to die but is she taking her own life or is someone ending it and if so why? This is not like other detective fiction I've read, mainly because of the setting and the life of the fishermen and people in Gaspé which takes up so much of the gorgeous book's pages. There is anything straight forward about Moralès investigation as he clashes with the local fisheries officer and seems to trend on everyone's toes and rubs people up the wrong way. The fact his son turns up, on the run from adult problems he can't face and the possibility his own marriage is crumbling just add extra layers of stress. I was completely absorbed in this book; the setting and characters from the first line. The Coral Bride is extraordinary.
