After Noah’s father, Olaf phones him with a plea to come help him, Noah tells his wife Natalie that he has to go. Since Noah hasn’t seen Olaf since his wedding, many years ago and is estranged from his father, Natalie isn’t supportive at first. After all, she is just about to ovulate and the wind for trying to become pregnant is narrowing.

Noah and Natalie live in Boston but Noah does make the trip to his father’s home at Misquah, Minnesota, on Lake Superior. As soon as he arrives and sees his father, he knows he did the right thing. Noah want to take Olaf to the hospital to see a doctor but Olaf refuses. It doesn’t take a doctor to see that something is wrong with Olaf.
Since Olaf doesn’t have a phone, Noah drives into town to phone his sister , Solveig. She said that she would make it there as soon as she can. He also phones Natalie. Just as she was about to hang up, she told Noah that she is coming out to his father’s.
Mean while, back at Olaf’s house, Noah gets reacquainted with his father. They talk about his mother and why Olaf didn’t rush back from a shipping job to see her before she died. Noah was just a child at the time and always resented Olaf for that. Then Olaf confided in Noah as to what really happened back in 1967, on the Ragnarøk. The ship that Olaf worked on. Olaf was one of the three men who survived the sinking.
“the crew of the ill-fated superior steel ship ss Ragnarøk, march 1967.”
Olaf still carried guilt all these years later for surviving. It’s the reason he drank all those years ago, though he did quit drinking a few years ago.
Noah and Olaf tried to make up for lost time with the short time they have together.
Safe From the Sea grabbed me from the start and will stick with me. It is a finely crafted character driven saga. Sure there have been stories done about father and son relationships before, but not like this. Peter Geye captures the relationship as well as the beautiful Lake Superior landscape with pitch perfect ease. In my opinion, it is a must read!
5/5
Thanks to Net Galley and Unbridled Books for this eBook. It is also available in print.
I grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota and have invited Peter Geye to So Many Precious Books for a guest post, to tell us more about Minnesota and the Great Lakes. Please join us on October 15th.
If you have reviewed this book, please leave a link in the comments.
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