“Whale Fall” by Elizabeth O’Connor

Elizabeth O’Connor’s achingly beautiful debut novel, “Whale Fall”, is a mesmerizing effort. On one level it is a straight-forward story of a motherless teen-ager growing up on a desolate Welsh island in the run-up to the horror that will be called the Second World War. Manod is a loyal, driven, and wise young lady, devoted to her younger sister, her father, her island. Life is harsh, yet beautiful, in a way that only isolated Northern islands can be. O’Connor’s writing is mesmerizing, poignant, poetic.

As time moves forward, life goes on. Some people leave either by moving to the mainland in search for a better life, or through death by illness, danger, or despair. Other things wash up upon the shore: a dead whale, English researchers, letters, news of war. There is reason for concern when such things appear. There are folk tales that have been told through the ages that continue to be repeated and sung. Spirits watch and wait.

Through it all, we root for Manod. She is the best of us. Ms. O’Connor is a powerful talent to watch closely moving forward.

Thanks to Pantheon Books and NetGalley for the eARC.