The Sea with Diamonds

When the horror of nine eleven occurred in 2001, I imagined how it would feel to be a newly-married young woman in the early stages of pregnancy who had lost the husband she adored in the atrocity. I fancied that in the depths of her despair she would decide to kill herself - especially if she believed in an after-life. THE SEA WITH DIAMONDS telling the story of Angie, the grieving young widow, was thus born.

Angie leaves her rented Brooklyn apartment to fly to Athens where she joins a cruise-ship bound for Istanbul. There she intends to slip unseen into the sparkling water of the Bosphorus - the stretch of sea her husband had become enchanted with and where, 4 months before, she had conceived on their honeymoon.

On board, a brash Texan couple and their frail young friend Mary-Lou, together with an elderly English couple, and Angie, are allocated the same dining table. Mary-Lou and Angie slowly bond and Angie discovers that her new friend has reason to be even sadder than she has.

Angie's resolve fluctuates but, by the end of odyssey, during which Greek legends and real life have often intertwined, she has decided to go through with it.
The question is, can the elderly English woman who suspects Angie is disturbed and about to commit suicide save her?