Colette recommends "Black Water"

Black Water, written in 1992, is based upon the 1969 Chappaquiddick "Incident' [read: TRAGEDY] involving Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne, a young aide who had worked on his brother Bobby's campaign the year before.

This novel is as compact and incisive at 150 pages as My Sister, My Love [see review] is overwritten! Speculation about Chappaquiddick has been out of the news for almost 40 years, yet reading this small book makes you feel as if you are the one dazzled by the senator and trapped underwater in the car....waiting for rescue when none is coming.

Succinct and well written, the chapters flip back and forth from being in the water, her attraction to the charisma and reputation of the almost mythical political hero, her family, her aspirations, her forgivable vanities. We understand her naivte and cringe because we know what the horrendous outcome will be. It is SO good, because it is so controlled and tight. And you wonder: you can ask forgiveness of others, but what about forgiveness of yourself.