Claire

A storm at sea leaves Lawrence Gordon fighting for survival through sound and touch. Blind for five years, he struggles aboard the City of Panama, clings to floating timber and reaches a beach, where his search for food brings him into contact with a woman washed ashore. Leslie Burton Blades begins this romance with the physical demands of danger, making Lawrence's hearing, memory and determination central to the action.

The story also turns toward the strain of love and jealousy in Philip Ortez's mountain cabin. Claire, Lawrence and Philip read different meanings into a small carved cherub, while friendly walks and conversations deepen Lawrence's fear of being treated with pity. These scenes give the novel an interest beyond its opening disaster: affection depends on gestures and words that each person understands differently. Readers interested in blindness in fiction will find a romance attentive to both bodily experience and the desire to be valued as an equal.