Undertow by Beverley Shaw
Reviewed by James M. Fisher
When I first received my review copy of Undertow, the debut novel by Beverly Shaw, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, based on the cover image of a breaking wave. The title and author’s name are in an understated serif font. And, as the book is published by Galleon, one never quite knows what the insides hold, as their output to date has been very diverse in subject and theme.1
However, after cracking the cover (not literally), and reading the first two chapters, I decided to set it aside, and for reasons I cannot pinpoint. I concluded it wasn’t the “right time” for this book and picked up another. Circling back a few weeks later, I restarted reading Undertow and I really got into the story, which is definitely character-driven.
“Undertow is Galleon’s most accessible novel yet.”
A few of the main characters (and the setting) are introduced in the first chapter. The central character is Sophie Langstrof, an American actor who went from a teen TV show to a successful movie career. (Think Lindsay Lohan without the issues, or even further back, Annette Funicello). Sophie is staying at a small Nova Scotian ocean side resort with her director Nathan and the scriptwriter Bill. They are there to check out the location and do some pre-production work on Sophie’s next film. The year is 2016. We also meet Fred, who is employed as a waiter at the resort.
One morning, Sophie decides to go to the beach for a swim. Swimming away from the shore to slightly deeper waters, the undertow sweeps her out, and then she gets caught in a rip tide. She thinks “what a ridiculous way to die” but recalls the instructions on a warning sign to swim parallel to the shore, to break away from the rip tide, which she accomplishes.
Meanwhile, Fred goes looking for her because Nathan and Bill have asked him if he has seen her this morning. He walks the beach and finds her towel and sandals neatly stacked on the beach. He now fears the worst, but soon sees Sophie walking toward him from a fair distance away. She is visibly shaken and complains of rib pain. Fred kindly offers to drive her to a nearby clinic, and Sophie accepts.
Without relating the entire storyline to you, the undertow imagery that is threaded throughout the novel has been set. Sophie, while experiencing a literal one, has, as a result of her near-death incident, experienced a shift in her priorities. This has as much to do with the new-found knowledge that she is pregnant as it does with her acting career, which is now on hold. Putting her career aside and the pending movie that Bill has written and Nathan is to direct, affects them both monetarily, which has an undertow-like effect on their lives, particularly with Nathan, who is older and is depending on the income from this movie.
The setting of the book soon turns to Brooklyn (where Sophie lives with Tim, a musician) and upstate New York, where Nathan lives with his wife Anne and their teen son Nathan.
The balance of the novel plays out the effect that Sophie’s pregnancy has on the various individuals, and rather than being swept out to sea figuratively, the opposite actually occurs: the characters are dramatically brought closer together and the rallying point that they are swept ashore to is Nova Scotia.
Another source of tension that impacts all the characters is that the novel is set during Trump’s first presidency. This serves to polarize the American characters, and they eventually find solace in Nova Scotia, as good a place as any in Canada to reset your life. Anne and Nathan have a small summer home there that they let to Sophie, for she is drawn back to Nova Scotia for reasons she is not quite sure of:
“Turning her head to face the house – her house for now- with its windows staring at the sea, she’s aware of something intangible hovering in the air, alive on her steaming breath.The word that comes to her mind is “safe.” Safe is where her breath comes most easily, where she can imagine the birth of something within her, something just as significant as this spinning, kicking baby, but nameless and unformed.”
Undertow is an excellent character-driven novel that is as easy to fall into as a good television drama, shifting scenes and characters with each chapter, and discovering the interrelatedness of it all. I’m pleased that I persevered with Undertow. The year is still young, but this will definitely be one of my favourite reads of 2026.
Undertow is Galleon’s most accessible novel yet.
About the Author
Beverley Shaw’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in Queen’s Quarterly, The Fiddlehead, The New Quarterly, Grain, Event, The Antigonish Review, Existere, and the anthology Best Canadian Stories 2017. She lives and writes in South Shore Nova Scotia, where she works as a teacher and musician.
About the Reviewer
James M. Fisher is the Editor-in-Chief of The Seaboard Review of Books. He resides in Miramichi, New Brunswick, with his wife, Diane, their tabby cat, Eddie, and Buster, their Border Collie. James also works as an MRI technologist at the Miramichi Hospital.
Book Details
Publisher : Galleon Books
Publication date : Sept. 25 2025
Language : English
Print length : 300 pages
ISBN-10 : 1998122255
ISBN-13 : 978-1998122257
Their motto is “Putting the ‘tic’ in Eclectic.”
Sounds like a really fascinating read, James. I love the metaphor of an undertow that sweeps you away and changes your life. Haven't we all experienced something close to that, be it "love at first sight," or a sudden change in health, or loss of a loved one? Things like this force us to change direction and think more clearly about what our priorities are.