Atmospheric, emotionally astute, and quietly powerful…
A determined teenager seeks freedom on the open ocean in Ward’s brilliant YA novel. Seventeen-year-old Meg Pullman has emancipated herself from a difficult childhood and signs on as an intern in the engine room of a Pacific research vessel, hoping the voyage will help her secure the scholarship that could change her life. Instead of simple escape, Meg finds herself navigating the complicated rhythms of shipboard life, unexpected relationships, and the unsettling realities of ocean pollution. As the expedition unfolds, Meg is forced to confront the past she believed she had left behind.
Meg is capable and observant but emotionally guarded, a young mechanic who trusts engines more easily than people. In the ordered logic of the engine room, problems have causes and solutions—something her life has rarely offered. Ward lets Meg’s past surface gradually through memory and reflection rather than dramatic revelation. The research vessel provides a strong narrative frame. Ward captures shipboard life with convincing detail—the hierarchy of the crew, the constant hum of machinery, and the small tensions that arise when strangers share tight quarters at sea. The ship’s mission to study ocean pollution, from drifting plastic to ghost nets, quietly echoes Meg’s attempt to reckon with the fragments of her own past.
The relationships Meg forms on board add emotional depth. Ward conveys the uncertainty of a teenager entering an adult professional world, especially when Meg’s connection to the captain raises suspicions of favoritism. A tentative romance adds another dimension. Ward handles it with restraint, letting small moments of curiosity and hesitation unfold naturally. Running beneath the narrative is a thoughtful exploration of larger themes. Meg’s voyage begins as an attempt at escape, yet the novel steadily suggests that distance alone cannot outrun the past.
The novel also explores the tension between control and uncertainty. In the engine room, systems behave logically and problems have solutions; human emotions follow no such rules. This contrast highlights Meg’s instinct to trust machines more easily than people. Gradually, the story moves toward a quieter realization: resilience may require not only independence, but the willingness to let others share the burden of experience. What ultimately distinguishes the book is the balance it achieves between personal reckoning and environmental awareness. The damaged ocean Meg encounters becomes a quiet reflection of wounds carried beneath the surface, suggesting that healing—whether ecological or personal—begins with attention, responsibility, and connection.
Readers who loved The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin and The Line Tender by Kate Allen will want to take a look.
Button Hall
Pub date February 25, 2026
ISBN 9798991851541
Print length 320
Price $34.99 (USD) Hardcover, 18.99 Paperback, $9.99 Kindle edition