Seeking the Shore

Morton (Watching the Water) has assembled a remarkably melodramatic mess set in the Depression-era South, the far-fetched tale of a privileged girl and the man she soldiers through a dizzying plethora of disasters to be with. Julianna Sheffield is in love with honorable, stoic Jace McAllister, who robbed Julianna’s father’s bank after her father callously caused many customers to lose everything. After the two elope, Jace is dragged off to jail and Julianna is hauled back home to marry Leyton, a cartoonish villain devoid of any redeeming qualities, whom readers will hate from his first appearance. Julianna believes that her true love is dead (he’s actually in an early version of the witness protection program), so she gives in and marries Leyton, hoping desperately (as will readers) that her odious new husband will get his well-deserved comeuppance in short order. An unexpected baby and the expected revelation of Jace’s survival heap on the complications. Morton creates a few endearing characters—notably Julianna’s dramatic, Lucky-smoking best friend, Virginia—but Leyton’s all-consuming evil and Julianna’s continuing willingness to put up with it are nearly impossible to get past. (Oct.)