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Deep Waters

A Memoir of Loss, Alaska Adventure, and Love Rekindled

Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

LIST PRICE ₹741.00

PRICE MAY VARY BY RETAILER

About The Book

“. . . a survival story of the highest order, navigating the complex terrain of marriage, medical crisis, and a future reimagined.”

—CAROLINE VAN HEMERT, award-winning author of The Sun is a Compass

A marine biologist’s adventurous life as a professor and mother in Alaska is upended when her healthy husband is slammed by a rare type of stroke. His radical approach to recovery clashes with her instinct to keep him safe at home and sets them on a collision course as he insists on ambitious sailing expeditions with Beth and their young son in Alaska’s magnificent yet unforgiving waters.

About The Author

Beth Ann Mathews grew up the Midwest and earned her master’s degree in marine biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. As an associate professor at the University of Alaska Southeast, she taught courses in biology, behavioral ecology, and marine mammalogy and led research on harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and harbor porpoises. She has also studied humpback, gray, and sperm whales and led undergraduate research programs on board tall ships in the Gulf of Maine and from field camps in Hawaii and Alaska. Mathews has published numerous scientific papers (Elizabeth A. Mathews), and her memoir Deep Waters was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl, Best Book Award for Memoir, and a three-time finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards (Grand Prize, Memoir, and Debut Author). She lives on an island with her husband in Puget Sound, WA.

Product Details

  • Publisher: She Writes Press (May 2, 2023)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781647424671

Raves and Reviews

2023 BAIPA Book Cover Contest Winner in Memoir
2023 IPPY Awards Bronze Medalist in West-Pacific - Best Regional Non-Fiction
2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in Memoirs (Personal Struggle/Health Issues)


“. . . an incisive, smartly informative memoir that celebrates the power of the cohesive family unit—its outcome will offer positivity and hope to those facing similar challenges.”
Kirkus Reviews

Deep Waters captures with grace and honesty the upheaval and necessary recalibrations that life can present to us at any time, with a keen appreciation for learning to ride the waves into what might be an unexpected but rewarding future.”
Anchorage Daily News

“With love as rugged and wild as the Alaskan landscape she made home, biologist Beth Ann Mathews tells the story of another wilderness: marriage after a life-altering stroke. Deep Waters is a thoughtful and provoking read, a reminder that life and love are inexplicably fragile and resilient, full of unexpected discovery.”
—ABBY MASLIN, author of Love You Hard

“. . . a love story that comes at the reader with the gloves off and goes a full twelve rounds.”
—LYNN SCHOOLER, critically acclaimed author of The Blue Bear and Walking Home

“Urgent, informative, emotionally satisfying, and thought-provoking, Deep Waters opens with a harrowing medical mystery and rewards the reader with a loving account of an adventurous partnership made stronger by crisis.”
—ANDROMEDA ROMANO-LAX, author of Annie and the Wolves

“Mathews writes with poignant honesty about the challenges of marriage, family, and community in a moving story that highlights the strengths of human relationships. Deep Waters starts with a bang and just keeps going—lively, vivid, and personal.”
—ROMAN DIAL, author of The Adventurer’s Son: A Memoir

“If books were birds, this one would be an arctic tern—powerful and graceful, beset by storms and learning to survive, and more, to thrive. The writing is feather-light yet strong.”
—KIM HEACOX, author of Jimmy Bluefeather

“. . . a survival story of the highest order, navigating the complex terrain of marriage, medical crisis, and a future reimagined.”
—CAROLINE VAN HEMERT, award-winning author of The Sun is a Compass

“Poignant, profound, and powerful.”
—MARV JENSEN, Superintendent of Glacier Bay National Park 1988-199

“We felt like we were there with Beth, sharing her emotions, anguish and struggles through the stroke, hospital stay, and recovery. We felt like part of the family as we read, gasped, cried and hoped for recovery and for peace in her heart.”
—TBD BOOK CLUB, Seattle, WA

“. . . frank, intimate, and filled with an honesty and verve that are gripping.”
—SUZANNE M. LANG, KRCB-NPR, A Novel Idea podcast

“Gripping and suspenseful. A must read not only for medical laymen, but for any practicing physician who cares for stroke patients.”
—DR. MAX B. DUNCAN, neurologist

“I did not want this book to end! I felt I truly got to know the author through this honest memoir. I love Alaska, and I love being on the water, and I love learning about neurological physiology and overcoming relationship problems—this memoir hit all of those! I could not put the fascinating, well-written book down. I especially admired her honest telling of her relationship challenges and the healing process.”
—DR. SHERRY TAMONE, PhD, marine biologist

“Beth’s work is so vulnerable and raw, and the people in her life are so clearly laid out on the page. She made it easy to dive into the extraordinary day to day of her family and their lives. I could see it all play out in my head and feel every trial they faced and celebration in which they took joy.”
—ALEX PICARD, actor, director, and audiobook narrator

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