Beautifully written, with vivid imagery of the Nova Scotia shore, this is a truly moving story of finding oneself after trauma, akin to Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, Francisco X. Stork’s The Memory of Light, and Maria Padian’s Wrecked.
With a plot and character traits akin to Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, this would be an excellent addition to middle grade libraries.
With a multitude of young adult novels examining timely adolescent concerns, there are plentiful choices in place of this novel to support teens confronting these issues. Not recommended.