Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
January 1, 2013/in Fiction 10-14 Middle/Secondary /by Angie Hill
BfK Rating:
BfK 198 January 2013
Reviewer: Laura Fraine
ISBN: 978-0192728395
Price: £12.99
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Genre: Fiction
Age Range: 10-14 Middle/Secondary
Length: 224pp
Buy the Book

Sea of Whispers

Author: Tim Bowler

Hetty is an outsider, always at odds with the close-knit community on the island of Mora, where the population is less than 100. Her parents drowned when she was a baby and the 15-year-old has grown up with a strong sense of independence, as well as a sensitivity to what she perceives as messages sent from the sea. She collects washed up sea glass in which images of faces appear to her – but what could they be trying to say? Such eccentric behaviour and her protectiveness over the strange old woman who is washed up on the shore after a storm make the island folk suspicious of Hetty. As the community rounds on her, she takes matters into her own hands to save the woman’s life and discover something of her own fate.

This highly atmospheric novel draws the reader into a time before instant communication and life on a tiny island battered by storms, where the sea rules everyday life. Visually, the novel emits darkness, as if you were reading it by candlelight beneath a threatening sky. There is quite a cast of characters, and it be difficult to keep track of them, but island life is evocatively imagined. Hetty’s own history – orphaned, chastised, misunderstood – should demand our sympathy, but her character is steelier than this. When Hetty sets off on her own path, she opens up to the reader as to herself.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Angie Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Angie Hill2013-01-01 01:00:362021-11-11 23:56:12Sea of Whispers

Search for a specific review

Author Search

Search







Generic filters




Filter by Member Types


Book Author

Download BfK Issue Bfk 272 May 2025
Skip to an Issue:

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Choice and reading relevant to their interests = reading for pleasure

June 11, 2025

Ross Montgomery wins the 2025 FCBG Children’s Book Award

June 7, 2025

Michael Rosen and Emily Gravett IBBY UK nominations for Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2026

June 4, 2025

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2025 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
101 Poems for Children: A Laureate’s Choice Sister Assassin
Scroll to top