Ocean

Polly Clark

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.

‘Strange, wonderful and compelling. It shows what a good storyteller can do when she really lets rip’ Louis de Bernières

‘Ocean shines in its exploration of the deep weirdness of grief and trauma’ Irish Times

‘A propulsive, visceral, gasp-inducing page-turner, as wild and unpredictable as the real ocean’ Sunday Post

‘A ferociously intense portrait of a mind, marriage and family in extreme turbulence’ Amanda Craig

‘A truly brilliant and exceptional novel about the folly of seeking stability amid life’s randomness’ Strong Words

‘A thrilling novel taking the reader on an epic journey on the high seas and within the mind of its heroine’ Jane Harris

Hardback: 336pp

Published: Lightning (June 2025)

ISBN: 9781785634468