A well researched and well structured narrative, Sudden Sea takes the reader through the Hurricane of 1938 in a familiar way, first introducing the individuals who will experience the disaster, disaster hits, then who lives or dies and their aftermath. The author provides a good foundation for the story, placing us in the economic, technological, and social settings of 1938. She sets the stage and builds drama, describing how hurricanes begin their life off the coast of Africa, how and why they travel across the Atlantic Ocean, the near miss of Florida, and the final race up the coast, skirting landfall until hitting Long Island and the southern New England coastline. She does a great job of pacing, providing detail where needed, especially fateful detail, such as the Washington D.C.’s Weather Bureau omitting “hurricane” from their storm warning to New York and New England, since “hurricanes never hit New England.”

I grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey during the 1960s and 1970s, leaving the area long before Super Storm Sandy in 2012, so I am quite familiar with storm surges, when to wait it out and when to evacuate. We routinely had roads covered with water feet deep during storms at full moon high tides, the worst. My father was 16 when the 1938 hurricane took place, which is probably why he brought in truckloads of fill to raise our property before building our home—we never had water in the house when I lived there, and although water did get in during Sandy, it was relatively minor, and one of the few homes in that neighborhood to survive with few problems. My mother remembered a couple of weeks after I was born, Hurricane Donna’s 6ft storm surge brought water up to the top porch step, but not in the house. In 1976, when working at a local candy store, I heard the evacuation notice over the radio, and convinced my family to leave, going inland during Hurricane Belle— that storm brought a nearly 9ft storm surge, but did not enter our home. We always had adequate warnings, both television and radio. Today, with the Web, we can easily check the National Hurricane Center online and track storms many days before they become a danger.

Two points in this book that made a big impression on me were the randomness of survival or death, and the courage of individuals. People in very similar circumstances either survived or died, and their fate was largely out of their hands. Some homes or roofs of homes were washed miles away to finally land, with the occupants riding along. Other homes were washed away to sea, and those people were never found, lost. Some people swam to save their lives, while others risked their own survival to save others. Some stories lifted your heart, others were heart-rending.

The level of destruction was utterly amazing, changing industries, geography, and lives. The fact that Hitler invaded Poland one year later made some wonder whether this storm was a harbinger of the loss and destruction to come. As someone who grew up with the annual threat at the door, I can attest that this book does a superior job of describing the mindset of those who choose to live on barrier islands and coastlines. I for one would never live near the coast again, much preferring the beauty and calm of inland woods. I highly recommend this book, as the 86th anniversary of this natural disaster just passed.