She became a watcher from the shore of her mother's ocean

More about She became a watcher from the shore of her mother's ocean

"She became a watcher from the shore of her mother's ocean." Is a quote from a novel I read awhile ago. I noted the phrase while I was reading, then I didn't write the attribution down later! I thought it was a poetic way to express an inexorable life-changing force. In the novel a daughter was watching her mother retreat further and further following the death of her husband - simply abandoning responsibility - and the daughter began to switch roles with her mom.

Now I'm going to have to search through my library to figure out which book this came from.