by Joanna Quinn
First published 2022
Cristabel Seagrave discovers her calling when a whale washes ashore at the family's Dorset estate. At twelve, she plants her flag on the massive carcass and declares it hers. An orphan with no place in the traditional English manor house, Cristabel refuses to accept the limited roles available to unwanted girls. She educates herself alongside siblings Flossie and Digby in their freezing attic, reading forbidden plays and listening through doors while their step-parents host endless parties below. The children create elaborate theatrical worlds from the books they steal and the adult conversations they overhear. Maudie the maid becomes their unconventional teacher. As the siblings reach adulthood, war disrupts their sheltered existence and forces them onto separate paths. Each must abandon the roles others expect them to play. The conflict draws them into dangers that test everything they learned during their improvised childhood. Cristabel's determination to write her own story becomes a fight for survival and meaning in a world that never wanted her to exist.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unconventional-heroine
Setting: Dorset, England
Period: 20th Century, World War I
558 pages · Hardcover · Knopf