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Mother Sea

Lorraine Wilson author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Fairlight Books

Published:18th May '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Mother Sea cover


Shortlisted for Scotland's National Book Awards Scottish Fiction Book of the Year

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 arrive and 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 and the islanders turn on one another, Sisi must fight to save her home, her people and her unborn child.


'Wilson's prose moves at a relaxed pace - sticky, sweet and abundant' -The Daily Telegraph
'Lyrical, moving, and at times haunting, Mother Sea proves that Wilson is an author to watch out for. The prose drew me in immediately, and I found it hard to tear my eyes away, reading well into the night. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time. Just brilliant!' -Awais Khan, author of No Honour

'With prose as vivid and colourful as a sunset, Wilson paints a tale that is both timeless and intensely topical. I was mesmerised and moved by the unfolding story and I have never read anything where climate change is felt so corporeally - it affects our environment, but also our bodies, our children' -Maria Turtschaninoff, author of the Red Abbey Chronicles and Inherited Land

'Complex, rich and beautifully crafted' -Claire North, author of 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

ISBN: 9781914148330

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

352 pages