Storm-Wake

Moss lives with Pa on the island. They came there to escape flooding, which has swallowed the rest of the world. They can never leave, but it hardly seems to matter to Moss, because Pa is a sorcerer. He creates magic with the mysterious stormflowers. The stormflowers keep his dark moods away, and with their help, he summons spirits – like Cal, the fish-boy, and Aster, the sea-horse – to the shores of the island.

But then unexpected spirits arrive, and Cal finds something that should not exist… Is the island everything that it seems to be? And is Pa who he says he is?

Inspired by The Tempest, Storm-Wake would make an excellent companion novel for anyone studying that play. The love that develops between Moss and Cal is satisfying and realistic. Lyrical and dreamlike, this is a unique and beautiful novel. Especially intriguing and refreshing is the way in which Christopher never commits to fantasy or realism, but instead keeps her characters hovering, like a dream, on the threshold between magic and reality.