The Keeper of Fragile Things

This novel addresses the unreliability of beauty, the loss of it, and what it means to grapple with that loss. A red tide---a thick bloom of rust-colored algae---can appear in ocean waters without warning. It is this potential for poison that haunts the protagonist's life and brings her life into a sharper and more painful focus. Kay cannot control the tides anymore than she can control the events around her. After her younger sister Emma is killed, Kay struggles with the loss she could not prevent. She must confront the future---raising Emma's son and building a life with her fiance---but it is the past that is most present.