Violet is spending the summer with her Uncle Toby in Lyric, Maine, following her younger brother Sam’s suicide attempt. She and Sam, who’s lived with mental health issues much of his life, used to be close, and Violet’s guilt leaves her almost mute every time she tries to write him. In Lyric, Violet gets to know Orion, whose best friend Liz is a local history buff. Lyric’s origin story revolves around Violet’s great great great grandparents, Fidelia and Ransome, who fell in love following a shipwreck in which Fidelia was the sole survivor. Liz suspects there’s more than is known to their tale and Violet agrees to search for information in her uncle’s house. Violet discovers letters from Fidelia making clear Violet and Sam aren’t the first in their family to deal with depression, and Fidelia’s forthright acknowledgment of the struggle is reassuring. There are also old photos showing Fidelia dressed in men’s clothing. Violet shares some of what she finds with Liz while also trying to determine, at Orion’s request, if Liz’s feelings for Orion mirror his for her, a task made more difficult by Violet’s attraction to both of them, feelings she senses are mutual. A nuanced story that recasts Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night features characters who are deeply complicated, and incredibly kind and tender as they struggle to be honest with themselves and one another. Violet, who is white, is a magnetizing force at story’s center. (Age 13 and older)

Fans of Far from the Tree, We Are Okay and Emergency Contact will love this epic, utterly unforgettable contemporary novel about a lost shipwreck, a missing piece of family history, and weathering the storms of life. 

The Larkin family isn't just lucky—they persevere. At least that's what Violet and her younger brother, Sam, were always told. When the Lyric sank off the coast of Maine, their great-great-great-grandmother didn't drown like the rest of the passengers. No, Fidelia swam to shore, fell in love, and founded Lyric, Maine, the town Violet and Sam returned to every summer. But wrecks seem to run in the family: Tall, funny, musical Violet can't stop partying with the wrong people. And, one beautiful summer day, brilliant, sensitive Sam attempts to take his own life.

Shipped back to Lyric while Sam is in treatment, Violet is haunted by her family's missing piece—the lost shipwreck she and Sam dreamed of discovering when they were children. Desperate to make amends, Violet embarks on a wildly ambitious mission: locate the Lyric, lain hidden in a watery grave for over a century. She finds a fellow wreck hunter in Liv Stone, an amateur local historian whose sparkling intelligence and guarded gray eyes make Violet ache in an exhilarating new way. Whether or not they find the Lyric, the journey Violet takes—and the bridges she builds along the way—may be the start of something like survival.

Epic, funny, and sweepingly romantic, The Last True Poets of the Sea is an astonishing debut about the strength it takes to swim up from a wreck.