The Search For Carmella

Since her childhood, marine biologist and explorer Dr Rose has had a passion for investigating the ocean and its possibilities. She finds great joy in the act of searching: for her it’s this rather than the goal that is most important. Fascinated by legends of a large, mysterious beast, reputed to live deep down in the ocean, she, her famed submersible pilot Anne, and other crew members including a dog, board the submersible and descend to the darkest depths seeking the elusive creature said to resemble a giant squid. In the blue, black waters they encounter a multitude of weird and wonderful gossamer-like glowing creatures, ‘some tiny, some spiny, some like squishy, shimmering jelly.’ All are awesome but not quite ‘Carmella-y enough’. We readers however are aware of the cerise Carmella floating gently and silently, tentacles curling across the pages, never far from the submersible yet unseen by Dr Rose and crew until eventually all too soon, it’s time to return to the surface.

A dreamy delight from beginning to end, stunningly illustrated in such a way as to evoke the awe and wonder of possibility and reality. In addition to wow moments there are spreads that show the interior of the submersible making this, the author’s follow up to her debut The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish another fusion of science, strangeness and mystery.