The Line Tender

Lucy's mother swam with sharks, but that's not what killed her. She was on a research expedition when a brain aneurysm struck. Five years later, a local fisherman catches a great white shark. Lucy knows her mother would have wanted to examine it, and with the help of her brainiac best friend she starts to research shark biology herself. Then tragedy strikes again. How can Lucy keep her head above the rising tide of grief? Who can she turn to now and how can she honor the legacy of those she's lost?

This is a tender, moving exploration of grief and its aftermath. I loved the well-drawn characters and the depictions of intergenerational friendship. My favorite part of the story was probably Lucy's exploration of her mother's research and the way she uses her study of sharks to help her keep going when she's tempted to give up.

Erica's Picks
4th - 7th
​Tags: animals, character driven, contemporary fiction, family life, SEL, tear-jerker

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