If you like stories that deeply explore a concentrated slice of life, The Undertow will provide you with a very satisfying read. Personally, I like that type of writing and believe it is accomplished very effectively by British writers. Jo Baker reminds me of writers like Helen Dunsmore, Mona Simpson, Margo Livesey - writers who give us a worldview where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. By exploring several generations of the same family, focusing on how people react to circumstances and pain beyond their control, Baker shows us how family attachments are our downfall as well as what saves us. The Hastings family passes along its mythology and secrets from one generation to the next. As with many families, the legacy given to each member is guided by both intentional and unintentional knowledge and actions. Jo Baker has created compelling characters who draw us into their lives as they struggle to sort out what to embrace and what to overcome as they face their inevitable inheritance.