Winner
Literary Titan Book Award 2023

Finalist
American Writing Awards 2023

AuthorsReading excerpt

"Through Peck's artful characterization, her characters come alive on the pages, leaving you feeling like you've encountered genuine individuals and are reading a memoir and not a novel. She writes with an artist's eye. Her visualizations and descriptions are picturesque and sensual. Colors are analogous to the chromatic scale. Music has a prominent place in the story.

"The reader will be intrigued and captivated by the unconventional family dynamics and intense psychological drama in the plot. Does the enigmatic power of music have the power to unite a family?"

Feathered Quill excerpt

Marcia Peck’s latest offering is written like a beautiful memory...rife with the innocence of youth and the harsh realities of life.

Marcia Peck instantly sets the tone with her fantastic storytelling ability. Having lived on the Cape for a summer, it was such a treat to relate to and recognize places that are signature to the Cape, thanks to her eloquent descriptions. She weaves beautiful passages with adept word placement of vivid sceneries chapter upon chapter. She dances across the pages with a melodic, storyteller’s voice which is tantamount to an author’s ability to not only establish voice, but to show her audience how to experience what it feels like to be in the moment. There is a perfect ebb and flow between bittersweet as much as there is heartache when capturing family dynamics in fleeting moments of life that portray it truly isn’t perfect all the time.

Water Music: A Cape Cod Story has the allure of another time… another place and welcomes the reader to absorb every moment and become a part of it throughout the telling.

BookLife excerpt

"In this masterful family drama, debut novelist Peck delivers an eleven-year-old girl’s account of her beloved parents’ subtle power struggles...Peck acknowledges that many of the novel’s moments mimic her own life, such as summers spent on the Cape and her love of the cello. This memoir-style authenticity yields exceptionally original characters who entertain the reader with their complexity and humor, influence Lily’s choices, and set Peck’s novel above others. Vivid descriptions of Lily’s home and landscape stir yearning for a long-gone, untouched Cape Cod...Nuggets of wisdom bring the poetic style immediacy while still expressing a tween girl’s outlook. Lily’s longing for her parents’ validation and her dawning maturity will warm hearts as much as the writing style will impress lovers of literary fiction.

Amy Wilson, Novels Alive

"In Water Music, author Marcia Peck uses the picturesque Cape Cod locale as a backdrop for this powerful story about a young girl trying to make sense of all the change around her. She finds refuge in her music."

Read the full, 5-star review

Florence Chavez, Amazon

"I believe we all have a little bit of a Lily Grainger story in us. I really enjoyed reading "Water Music" by Marcia Peck, having just read "Are You There God, it's Me Margaret" by Judy Blume.You'll need tissues for this book -- I found myself feeling heartbroken and happy all rolled into one by the end."

Bonnie, Bonnie Reads and Writes

The author, in words, paints a picture of each character so well that they instantly appear in the mind’s eye...This book sometimes quakes with emotion, and I definitely felt Lily’s reality.