Genuinely really moving book. I can't think of much better climate fiction that also deals with belonging and the difficult consequences of colonialism and capitalism. Genuinely excellent, and makes me want to turn to this author's backlog.

The writing is solid, creating a vivid atmosphere, but the plot is a mix of captivating moments and predictability. Characters are well-developed, though some lack depth. Pacing fluctuates, making it a decent but not outstanding read.

Kept pausing reading this book because I just had to share so many good bits with my husband. Highly recommend!

Full of vivid descriptions and rich imagery this book is beautifully written with a lyrical prose and a haunting atmosphere that made it hard to put down

This was an enjoyable read. The topics it touches are powerful and moving. Climate change, motherhood, how to balance things. I think this was so beautifully written!

The story is both important and well written, and quite essential. However, I was not a big fan of the writing voice but that is just a preference.

At the core all stories are about decisions to or sometimes to not act. We want the anticipation of what will the characters decide and what will be the consequences of their decision. That can cover the fate of the galaxy or a much smaller intimate tale affecting a single person’s life. In Lorraine Wilson’s fascinating Mother Sea, we have a tale mixing questions of science and progress with belief and the power of communities where the key question is what is the right course of action?

The small island community of Awais Khan is facing a dangerous future. The island is increasingly prone to rising sea levels caused by climate change and more immediately the population is facing a dangerous deadly version of tetanus that is killing its children just after birth. Acting as bridge is the local Sisi de Mathilde who works on scientific studies and yet now Sisi is widowed and her best friend is due to have a baby very soon. She starts to wonder what is the best course of action to take? Should she take risks to save her friend’s child? On the Island arrives Kit is a relative of the local governor who is hiding a troubled recent path and seeks to hide and run from the world for a final time. These two characters will find a way to bond but the right course of action may not make anyone truly happy.

I enjoyed this story which is very much not allowing any easy answers for the characters or situation. Its not a case of good and evil – more choices that don’t mean a complete victory or a truly happy ending. With the setting of Awais Khan we have a community facing ultimate destruction but very much have tried to do their best regardless – allowing scientists to study the island; changing crops and flood damage work. But we know the future predictions all say this cannot last long. For the inhabitants this is a difficult area to face. They believe strongly in the power of Brother Island and Mother Sea being the home they found many centuries ago. Their home is woven into their beliefs and traditions. Who would dare to say that can end? Kit finds himself seeing the more geopolitical economics other forces wish to use on the Island and finds himself despite his reservations getting involved but will his decisions do more harm than good? Wilson weaves themes of environmental decay and capitalist greed with a more human focused tale of survival and maintaining a community to great effect.

For Sisi who has very much wanted to explore science and eventually leave the Island she has instead been trapped. Pushed into marriage into a man she didn’t really love and now widowed and pregnant on an island where babies are catching a terrifying disease. Her natural desire to support science pushes her into trying to persuade her community that they should trust scientists with their infants, but Sisi finds not every scientist knows the answer. This starts to separate her from community, and she finds herself crossing Kit. It’s a tale of navigating a difficult world and deciding on a decision that forces us as readers to decide well what would we do? Its not easy. I really valued that there is no magic wand on display here and as the tale ends more challenges await everyone.

Wilson paints a fascinating picture of a picturesque island filled with natural wonders but also prey to natural disaster. Even finding a cure for disease may not save their world. Another conflict arises when one of the Island’s Mothers (a respected set of leaders) start to ponder if letting the outside world in has led to more harm than good. What I enjoyed is none of these are poorly thought put decisions there is an internal logic the characters must now navigate but Wilson makes people talk to one another trying to get to the best outcome which is always refreshing!

Overall, a tale that mixes science with religion with ethics makes this a fascinating tale that is unusual, refreshing and thought-provoking. What a good story always needs to deliver and yet another sign that Lorraine Wilson is a writer to watch out for.

This book has good social commentary on post colonialism and also about finding your spot/purpose in the world. The book was slow at times but overall had good themes.

It was an interesting read but has mishaps at a lot of places. But still was a nice read. There were places where there was over exposition but i guess thats for the good

Beautiful and intimate. This was an emotional story, and some of those emotions were grief, depression, hopelessness, and anger - but I felt there was always an undercurrent of hope. This wasn't a dark book by any means, but it was one that was intimately in touch with its characters feelings, and they were feeling a lot.

The setting and the overall messages - climate change, faith vs. science, colonialism, for example - were poignant, but more than that, I think the characters stood out in this book. They all felt real, and even if I didn't agree with all of them (or any of them, fully), I understood them.

I hadn't read anything by Lorraine Wilson previously, but if everything she writes is this lovely, I'll certainly be changing that.

<i>Thank you to the publisher, Fairlight Books, and to NetGalley for the ARC.</i>

2.5 Stars
One Liner: Great premise; not happy with the execution

Sisi de Mathilde lives on a remote island in the Indian Ocean. Climate change is affecting their lives in a million little ways. The yields are less, seas are inching closer, and babies die soon after birth.
Outsiders, scientists, and authorities want the islanders to relocate; to leave their homes and the only life they’ve known to become refugees in other lands. The community thinks otherwise and is determined to rely on their sacred ways to protect themselves.
Sisi is a scientist but also an islander. Widowed and pregnant, she needs to decide the best thing to safeguard her unborn child.
Kit arrives on the island with his uncle and aunt, a member of the authorities, but with heartbreak and grief of his own. Can Kit somehow help Sisi, or will it be the other way around?
The story comes in the limited third-person POV of Sisi and Kit.

My Thoughts:
The premise and the cover are interesting, so I knew I had to read this. The setting is beautifully described with a liberal dose of the dangers the islanders face every day. It makes the whole thing more real, instead of limiting the island’s role to being something like an ‘exotic holiday’.
The story comes in almost alternative POVs of Sisi and Kit. While Sisi’s chapters are easy enough to read, Kit’s are as messy as his mind (the poor guy is struggling with just about everything). The writing reflects his thought process, a great idea in theory, but hard to read at a stretch for a reader.
The book has a non-binary rep seamlessly woven into the plot. I like how this is done. There are quite a few non-binary characters, though Nuru gets the maximum space. I like Nuru’s initial arc, them being Sacare (a wise guide of sorts), but by the end, their character became predictable.
The book pretty much hinges on the science vs. faith dilemma. I see the merits and issues on both sides and understand the deep-rooted fear of Indigenous people in allowing outsiders to have more control over their lives (our ancestors have been there and done that). I also know the advantages of science and technology.
However, the writing also reminded me of a video I saw recently. We pretty much know the ending of the book. There’s only one way it will go despite all the drama, and that’s what happens here too. It did lead to disappointment, especially when the open ending leaves a lot of threads unanswered. Yeah, life’s like that, which is why I read books.
The book is tagged as lit fiction and is character-driven. But unfortunately, I couldn’t connect to either character. I understand Kit a lot more and feel sad for him. There are too many stories similar to his. Sisi has potential, but we have a screen between us and couldn’t reach other to each other no matter what.
The community aspect is very well done and quite realistic. Grief, choices, decisions- it’s not easy. While colonization is not explicit, wherever we see on the island is a result of it. We know we cannot escape the trauma of it even after generations (again, living proof).
I think the book couldn’t establish Nuru’s faith the way it should. We see it only through Sisi’s eyes, which is not the right approach since she is already struggling. Nuru’s faith is wonderful and dangerous for them and others. It should have been the driving force of the conflict. Yet, we get a third-party version of it. I don’t feel the certainty, the fear, the risk, the conflict, the pain… nothing. Observing something and being that are two different things, which becomes apparent as Nuru ends up as a mere tool to drive home someone’s point than assert themselves.
The execution, the little-too-convoluted writing, and the ending didn’t help. Most importantly, it took me a while to figure out why the plot feels wrong. This story reinforces the colonizer’s perspective of indigenous people. It’s white saviorism all over, albeit from a scientist’s POV (instead of East India Company, we have environmentalists and conservationists trying to ‘help’ indigenous people because they sure can’t do it on their own).
The book shows why we ‘need’ people like Sisi and Kat to show the right path because Nuru and Mothers are intent on surrendering in the name of faith. It re-establishes that the indigenous people rely on blind faith and going back to the old ways means doing nothing but believing (Mother Sea) wants sacrifices and essentially acting like ‘heathens’. This is sad because the book starts out strong as if intending to defend the islanders but nope... it has to invariably prove them wrong and in need of outside help to survive.

To summarize, Mother Sea has its merits and comes with some good writing, but it didn’t make me go wow or introspect the concepts as I wanted to. Please check the content warnings before you pick the book.
Thank you, NetGalley and Fairlight Books, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

***
Going back to the old ways doesn’t mean one turns a fanatic. It means digging deeper into ancient knowledge and using today’s insights to combine the best of both worlds. It means to understand the ancestors’ wisdom without looking at it through the colonial lens. It’s a complex process of unlearning and learning and re-learning.

Book Description:
Mother Sea by Lorraine Wilson is an incredibly moving, brilliant story about a people's fight for survival. Living on a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, Sisi de Mathilde and her people are facing the loss of their island, their culture, their very existence. Sisi, an ecologist, is caught between the world of science and society. How will she save her island and their way of life? How do you preserve the essence of your people if your home is destroyed? Especially when that home, an island, was so integral in making you who you are?

My Thoughts:
Mother Sea is rife with beautifully written prose. I was so touched by the story while reading the ARC, I ended up purchasing it as soon as it was released. I found myself in awe of the islanders' strength and inspired by their fight. Their fady (pronounced FAH-dee), or cultural taboos, are fascinating. These beliefs have governed their daily life for generations.

Before Mother Sea I had never considered how an island can change over time and found the science of it all intriguing. These changes can drastically affect the island's inhabitants. Readers will be devastated by the islanders' sacrifice and haunted by their grief. Lorraine Wilson has crafted such a thought-provoking story, perfect for book clubs and great discussions.

Read this if you like:
• Dual POVs
• Cultural fiction
• Beautiful prose
• Thought-provoking reads

Set on an island community, with traditional beliefs and a distrust of the modern world, Sisi is a scientist who is trying to convince the others in her community to accept some scientific advances, but following tragedy she calls her own beliefs into question.

This is a tale tackling global warming, racism, child death, suicide and other huge issues. So not a comfortable read at times, but this is a moving story and quite unlike anything I've read before.

I received a free ARC in exchange for an honest review

A surprisingly intimate drama that lures you into this tale of motherhood and morose alliances. The land shown has both pros and cons when it comes to the traditions and the unveiled culture laid out within the story. The air of depression hanging around the difficult decisions faced dominates the beauty making it a page-turning read.

Set on a fictitious remote island in the Indian Ocean, Mother Sea is a book all about climate change, colonialism and what it means to be a community.
We follow two characters POV’s. Firstly, Kit Benedict, a student who after a failed suicide attempt joins his uncle on a trip to the Island to help convince its residents that they should relocate elsewhere due to the rising sea levels (and so a company can come and exploit the island of its resources). And secondly SiSi de Mathidle, a scientist born and raised on the island, fighting to save her home and her land, and whom struggles to choose between science and religion when her unborn child could potentially have a vaccine resistant form of tetanus. The book alternates between the two POV’s and SiSi and Kit’s lives begin to intertwine and they try to ultimately help one another.

Ok, let me start out by saying that when I read the blurb of this book I thought it had the most BEAUTIFUL potential. As someone who’s trying to be more and more eco-conscious, I find myself gravitating to the ‘cli-fi’ genre, and the idea of this book drew in in straight away.
Unfortunately, I feel like the story could have been executed better. That’s not to say the story was bad. It wasn’t. But I felt there could’ve been so much more done. The writing was good, with some stunning descriptions of the island, and some truly emotional interactions between characters, but at time the prose just felt odd and sporadic. I would’ve loved some more information about the history of the island, and a little more background on Benedict and Sisi, plus the ending is left quite open and unresolved.

Would I reccomend it? Yeah I certainly would, especially given the current state of the world, I’m urging everyone to read climate fiction. I just think I wanted to love this book so much that I’m a bit disappointed that it didn’t meet my expectations :(

- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- this was a solid story on the affects of post colonialism and the choice of people to find where they want to belong, and the book explored those themes in depth. my only nitpick with the story is that it was slow to develop, which made my reading experience a little sluggish, but did not take away from the message overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and Fairlight books for this eARC.

I will start by saying it took me a bit to get used to the writing style. I think maybe the large part of that was the introduction of characters via conversation right at the start and it felt like I should have known who they were, but I didn't.

However, the progression of this story was just so heart wrenching. A really strong novel that centers on climate change and heart ache overall.

“Sisi’s words were stacked like books in her throat, each one filled with thousands of others, nested questions.”

This book is incredibly beautifully written, it’s food for your soul ♥️ The gorgeous writing is in contrast with the super heavy themes, which creates a haunting atmosphere. This story will stay on my mind.

“They are old ways in your mind. They should not be so; they should be now, they should be in everything.”

Tradition versus outside influence is one of the main themes. A deeply isolated group battling with climate change and the balance of keeping up with their ways and accepting outside help and modern amenities. Choosing to stay on the struggling island or relocate and risk losing themselves. What must they do to survive?

“Just because you want this thing, why must I?”

The story is written from two POVs. Sisi is trying to save her community by studying the island and uncovering new crops. She wants to utilise modern science and medicine, while maintaining respect for their old ways. An outsider, Kit, has been sent to the island to recover from his recent suicide attempt. He’s struggling to find a purpose, a will to live. Both of these characters are highly relatable, complex and very realistic.

”It was horror and loss and bleeding heart pushed beyond bearing.”

This story makes you feel a lot of feelings. Mostly painful and sad ones but also hope and fondness. The writing makes you really experience these emotions right alongside the characters.

I love to find literary gems like this! I think I highlighted more lines than ever before, there was something about this story and writing that just spoke to me ♥️

This was a brilliant book. Set on a speculative island ravaged by the effects of climate change, Mother Sea explores the dichotomy between faith and science in a beautifully written, thoughtful way.

The writing style flowed so well and was consistent throughout the book, making it easy to read without feeling jolted by the Dual POV. Both Sisi and Kit had their own voices and their personalities certainly shone through in their perspectives, but I did still feel like there was still a unity between them that made more sense as the book continued.

The setting was vividly described, I felt like I could imagine it in front of me right now, and I found the lore about Mother Sea and Brother Island fascinating, as it built the island up more in my imagination. My favourite part of the novel was seeing how both Sisi and Kit's characters learn from themselves and each other more and more as the book goes on - watching Sisi come to terms with her own beliefs and actions felt like a real journey that I was lucky to embark on.

Part of me is quite satisfied with the ending, it felt like a good place to end. And yet, another part of me is so desperate to see how their lives continue past that point - I'm desperate to know more. I think this is a sign of the book's excellence, the time progression of the book felt perfect and I was so invested in the twists and developments that letting it go seems hard.

Ultimately, this was an amazing book, and I really recommend it to everyone. If you're also thinking about how our futures might occur in the wake of climate change, this is definitely the book to get your brain whirring...

Thanks to Fairlight Books and NetGalley for early access to this book!

After an attempted suicide attempt and disappointing them by not wanting to study law, Kit‘s parents make him join his uncle on a visit to a remote island in the Indian Ocean, where he is supposed to help convince the indigenous inhabitants to relocate elsewhere - to save themselves from the increasingly dire living situation, but also make room for a company to exploit the natural resources of the island.

I really struggled with the writing style in Kit’s chapters at the beginning of the book. It took me some time to figure out what exactly was wrong with him, and once I did I really appreciated the way the writing style reflected his state of mind, but that meant I was quite confused about the plot at first. It took me some time to warm to him, but I liked his quiet and serious character after that.

Sisi, on the other hand, was a character I felt immediately drawn to. As the island‘s scientist, she keeps track of the ways climate change endangers the islanders‘ existence, and then of course there’s also the looming threat of a vaccine-resistant version of Tetanus hanging over her unborn child. I felt with her when she was torn between science and religion which both failed to save her best friend‘s child, and when she was treated as someone apart from the rest of her people because she believed that science was the way to save them.

That’s actually something that really had me struggle with the book. I‘m not saying that these people should stop believing in Mother Sea, abandon their traditions and beliefs or anything, but - most of them have gone away to the mainland to study things like biology, and it absolutely blows my mind how educated people choose to turn their backs on science and instead decide to trust wholly on a religion that failed them just as much. I was very frustrated with that part of the plot and couldn’t understand the stance of the mothers.

I also felt like nothing really was quite resolved in the end, and felt left hanging a bit when the book was over. There were too many loose ends for my liking.

All in all, I felt very intrigued by the idea of the story, and although the writing style did take rather a lot of getting used to, I ended up enjoying that as well. However, I feel like overall the story could have been executed better, with a more defined ending.

3/5 stars.