I’ve been wrestling with this month’s Spell the Month in Books for three weeks now and it almost defeated me. August’s theme, as set by Jana at Reviews From the Stacks, is water which seemed easy initially. Plenty of scope I thought for variations such as rain and rivers, seas and oceans.

just one problem with that train of thought however — there is no letter R in August, nor O. The letter U was also a challenge, doubly so because there are two of the dratted things in August.

So once more I had to get a little creative ….

A

All at Sea by Decca Aitkenhead

Newspaper journalist Decca Aitkenhead recounts a family holiday in Jamaica when her partner drowned while trying to rescue their son. All At Sea is an unflinching account of grief and the slow process towards reconciliation.

U

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

One of the very few science fiction novels I’ve read though it was so long ago now (we’re talking many decades) that I remember very little about the book. I have an idea it’s really an adventure story of the hunt for an underwater monster that turns out to be man made. Even if you’ve never read the book, I bet you’ve heard of the name of the central character, Captain Memo.

G

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa

The German Girl is based on a true story from 1939. Some 900 people of the Jewish faith were granted visas enabling them to flee Germany and settle in Cuba. But when their ship arrived at Cuba it was to find the government had changed its mind. The passengers were also refused entry to Canada and the United States so the captain had no choice but to return to Germany.

What does this have to do with water you may be wondering. Well the novel is mostly set at sea but the real connection is that “German” is part of an area in the UK shipping forecast. I grew up to the sound of the announcer listing weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the British Isles. I could recite some of those strange and magical sounding names even though I had no idea what Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight actually meant. “German Bight” I’ve since learned is the south-eastern area of the North Sea. So there’s my water connection. Phew

U

Under The Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy

Hardy’s novel is set in his fictitious county of Wessex part of which does have a coastline. But the actual setting for this novella is inland, featuring the inhabitants of a small rural town and the attempts of various men to win the hand of the young school mistress. There is however a river which features in a few scenes adding to the idyllic pastoral atmosphere of the novel.

S

Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

There’s no shortage of water in Fuller’s novel about a woman believed to have drowned at a Dorset beach. Twelve years later her husband and two daughters are re-united at the family home in a converted swimming pavilion, giving them an opportunity to try and discover what really happened on that day long ago.

T

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

You simply can’t have an island if there is no water to surround it can you?? Treasure Island made such a mark on me when I read it as a child that I could still remember some scenes decades later. Only as an adult did I discover there was more to this book than merely adventure.

.If you fancy having a go at Spell the Month, you’ll find all the info you need on the website of the host, Reviews From the Stacks. The theme for September is “Back to School”.