Description

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In an island community facing extinction, can hope rise stronger than grief?

Sisi de Mathilde lives on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. With the seas rising, the birth rate plummeting and her community under threat, she works as a scientist, reporting on local climate conditions to help protect her island home.

But her life is thrown into turmoil when she finds herself newly widowed and unexpectedly pregnant. When a group of outsiders try to persuade her community to abandon the island, Sisi is caught between the sacred ‘old ways’ of her ancestors and the possibilities offered by the outside world. As tensions rise Sisi must fight to save her home, her people and her unborn child.

About the Author

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Lorraine Wilson is an ex-conservation scientist who writes fiction influenced by folklore and the wilderness. With a third-culture heritage, she is drawn to themes of family, belonging and the legacy of trauma. Her debut novel This Is Our Undoing (2021) was shortlisted for the Kavya Prize and for the British Fantasy Society's Best Newcomer and Best Fantasy Novel awards, and longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association's Best Novel award. Her second novel The Way the Light Bends was published in 2022. She won a British Fantasy Award for her short story Bathymetry in 2022. Lorraine currently lives on the east coast of Scotland with her family.

Praise For…

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Wilson’s prose moves at a relaxed pace – sticky, sweet and abundant‘ — The Daily Telegraph

‘Complex, rich and beautifully crafted’ — Claire North, author of critically-acclaimed The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

"Wilson's novel is rooted in a deep sense of place, beautifully evoking the history and magic of Scotland. A fantasy-tinged story about the hole grief makes, complicated family relationships, and the road to healing." —A.C. Wise author of Wendy, Darling on The Way the Light Bends