We are thrilled to announce our July Book of the Month: The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk! This intimate and beautifully told debut novel is a soaring triumph, evocative and profoundly moving, telling the story of family, love, and migration by the voice of one who was left behind. A perspective often untold, The Pages of the Sea speaks for the children left behind by the Windrush generation, waiting for word of when they’ll reconnect with their parents.
Set in an unnamed Caribbean island in the 1960s, Wheeler’s mother has gone to find work in England. This leaves Wheeler and her two older sisters in the care of her two aunts and three cousins, in a state of constant uncertainty as she waits for the promise of seeing her mother again while getting along as best as she can on the island.
Wheeler is a keenly observant protagonist, confused by the tensions in the household between the aunts and cousin Floyd. Often disregarded by her sisters and requested by her aunts to do menial and sometimes dangerous tasks that go against her mother’s instructions, the reader is left rooting for her to get the love and attention she deserves.
With a stunning use of language that clearly evokes the sense of place from the very opening pages, Hawk immediately transports the reader to a volcanic island with an ever-present and ever-changing sea. While Wheeler is getting used to her new surroundings, they are at once familiar with the two-storey house Wheeler takes residence in, with its “steep volcanic yard” overlooking the bay, which was her mother’s childhood home; while the mother is absent, she is very much present. The story takes place during dry season with “no threat of rain now”, and, of course, this is the theme of the novel as Hawk not only depicts Wheeler’s state of limbo, but invokes the sensation in the reader as we wait to learn more about the family dynamics—the mysterious tensions between the aunts and the foreboding nature of cousin Floyd. The ending comes as a release from the drought in a torrent of thought-provoking and moving lyricism.
Hawk masterfully conveys the heart-breaking fear of a child left behind. It is a moment in Wheeler’s life, and a pivotal one that pulls on the heartstrings and is told with confidence and precision. The Pages of the Sea is a debut novel that, like the protagonist herself, is not to be overlooked.
A beautifully written and intimately imagined debut novel.—Monique Roffey, The Mermaid of Black Conch
What can I say except I think this is a great novel. The story breaks your heart and, at the very same time, the writing heals it.—Toby Litt, A Writer’s Life
An evocative and at times heartbreaking work. Anne Hawk gives fresh form to the Windrush era and a new voice to its neglected narratives.—Anthony Joseph, Sonnets for Albert, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry 2022
This is a stunning debut. Beautifully told, The Pages of the Sea will resonate for many thousands.—Yvonne Bailey-Smith, The Day I Fell Off My Island
The Pages of the Sea by Anne Hawk is published by Weatherglass Books
9781739570729 | Paperback | Out Now | £12.99
