"We were all drawn in and did not want
to put Beth's book down
—Seattle Book ClubDeep Waters
A Memoir of Loss, Alaska Adventure, and Love Rekindled
How do you protect someone you love without holding them back?
An intimate, uplifting story of a courageous marine biologist's journey from the instant her healthy husband suffers a stroke, through Beth's trials and tender moments as his medical advocate and conflicts during his recovery when her instinct to protect him from risk collides with his need for wilderness sailing expeditions with his family in Alaska's magnificent yet unforgiving waters.
“Frank, intimate, and filled with an honesty and verve that are gripping.” —Suzanne M. Lang, host of NPR’s A Novel Idea podcast
“Mathews writes with poignant honesty about the challenges of marriage, family, and community in a moving story that highlights the strengths of human relationships. Deep Waters starts with a bang and keeps going—lively, vivid, and personal.”
—Roman Dial, author of The Adventurer’s Son: A Memoir
“A love story that comes at the reader with the gloves off and goes a full twelve rounds.” —Lynn Schooler, author of The Blue Bear and Walking Home: A Journey in the Alaskan Wilderness
“Deep Waters captures with grace and honesty the upheaval and necessary recalibrations that life can present to us at any time, with a keen appreciation for learning to ride the waves into what might be an unexpected but rewarding future.”
—ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS
“With love as rugged and wild as the Alaskan landscape she made home, biologist Beth Ann Mathews tells the story of another wilderness: marriage after a life-altering stroke. Deep Waters is a thoughtful and provoking read, a reminder that life and love are inexplicably fragile and resilient, full of unexpected discovery.”
—Abby Maslin, author of Love You Hard: A Memoir of Marriage, Brain Injury, and Reinventing Love
“. . . an incisive, smartly informative memoir that celebrates the power of the cohesive family unit—its outcome will offer positivity and hope to those facing similar challenges.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS
“Urgent, informative, emotionally satisfying, and thought-provoking, Deep Waters opens with a harrowing medical mystery and rewards the reader with a loving account of an adventurous partnership made stronger by crisis.”
Andromeda Romano-Lax, author of What Boys Learn and The Deepest Lake
Photo: Star Dewar
Beth Ann Mathews
is a marine biologist, mother of one son, and an author. She taught biology and marine mammalogy for two decades at the University of Alaska in Juneau and studied marine mammals with her students in Glacier Bay National Park.
Deep Waters is Beth’s first book.
Her second book, Between Two Lights: A Memoir of Divided Love and Adventures at Sea will be published by She Writes Press January 2027; distribution by Simon & Schuster.
