Sea of Whispers

This slowly and beautifully unfolding story conjures the intense life lived by an isolated island community. It tells of the threat of the sea and the weather, the bonds of its people and the tensions between them. Hetty, brought up by her grandmother, is on the brink of adulthood – a girl of the island, yet increasingly unsettled and confined by it.

Into this storm-ravaged isolation Bowler introduces an old woman washed up by the sea. She is barely alive, but Hetty develops a unique connection with her, which culminates in a perilous rite of passage.

Tim Bowler writes delicately about fear, loss, love, courage, and importantly, about identity. Compelling, haunting and mysterious, his books linger in readers' minds, and this is no exception.