Ashley Herring Blake (Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World, The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James) has another winner in this poignant tale about grief, friendship, and family. Twelve-year-old Hazel blames herself for her Mum’s death in a kayaking accident two years ago, an accident that left her scarred physically and emotionally. Ever since, she has had anxiety and is overprotective of her little sister Peach—and the ocean that she once loved is now a place of fear and death. Their Mama is too caught up in her own grief to help Hazel process hers. The girls and Mama have been traveling the country since the accident, never staying in one place more than a few months, though Hazel longs to go back to their home in California. When the family arrives at Rose Harbor, Maine, however, something feels different. Maybe it’s running into Mama’s childhood friend and former crush Claire (who is bisexual, like Mum was), or Claire’s daughter Lemon, who is Hazel’s age and obsessed with the local myth of the Rose Maid mermaid, Hazel’s spitting image.
Lemon and Claire are also dealing with a loss of their own, and we see Hazel slowly start to connect with Lemon and her friends, one of whom is nonbinary. Mama is growing close to Claire, however, and Hazel is worried she will stop remembering Mum—Mum, whom Mama has not spoken of since the accident. Hazel herself is afraid to get too friendly with Lemon or Lemon’s friends, knowing her family will soon be moving on—and knowing that closeness also means the risk of loss. Eventually, these fears bring Hazel to a crisis point, forcing her to confront herself and risk change if she is to move forward.
Hazel and her family, as well as Claire and her family, are presumed White; one of Lemon’s friends is Japanese American. Blake slips in some information about pronouns and nonbinary pride, but does so without being pedantic, and the nonbinary character Jules also ends up in a romantic subplot (though I won’t say more for fear of spoilers). Notably, too, the parents are as well fleshed out as the children; while the story is told from Hazel’s perspective, the parents have emotional lives of their own and are more than just cut-out background figures, as is the case in some middle-grade stories.
Lyrical and moving, bittersweet but ultimately hopeful in its message about the power of healing and change, this is a highly recommended read. With a 12-year-old protagonist, it will likely appeal most to middle graders, but is substantial enough to engage older teens (and even adults).
