Flotsam

From its opening pages (a tranquil beach scene, followed by images of the objects gathered inside a veritable cabinet of marine curiosities) this mind-expanding wordless picture book engagingly, insistently invites you to look deeply and to interpret what you see.

The story of a boy finding a vintage camera washed up on a beach unspools like a silent film. The camera and its secrets take the boy on an extraordinary visual journey into an undersea otherworld where he makes unexpected connections across continents and through time.

Breathtaking, intricately-detailed watercolour illustrations filled with marine marvels do all the work, controlling the pace and mood of this complex, absorbing narrative about observing and being observed, which reveals itself to the reader like a nest of Russian dolls.