Ocean

The new novel from the prize-winning author of Larchfield
Caught in a terrorist explosion on the London Underground Helen can't go back to her own life. In a bid to preserve their shaky marriage, her husband, Frank, proposes they sell up and sail the Atlantic. But the boat that once brought them together becomes a crucible of passion and conflict, shattering the few certainties they have left.

‘Strange, wonderful and compelling’ – Louis de Bernières

A powerful yacht, a warring family, the unforgiving deep.

Caught in a terrorist explosion on the London Underground, inner-city schoolteacher Helen is pregnant and lost until a stranger leads her to safety then vanishes. Obsessed with finding him, she begins to lose her grip on reality – and her family.

As their marriage fractures, her husband Frank proposes a daring plan: sell up and sail the Atlantic with their son Nicholas and troubled foster daughter Sindi on the Innisfree, the very boat where the couple first fell in love.
What begins as a daring bid for salvation turns into an epic journey. The ocean proves as wild and unpredictable as the heartbreak Helen is trying to outrun. Will the voyage meant to save them destroy them instead?

With a fiercely funny and maverick heroine at its helm, Ocean is a powerful exploration of the uncharted waters of the human heart. The award-winning author of Larchfield takes us on a gripping, beautifully written voyage into the depths of what it means to heal – and to live.