New fiction inspired by the sea, commissioned exclusively for the National Maritime Museum, to mark the 70th anniversary of its opening.

Features stories that deal with life, love, loneliness, delusion, misunderstanding and death. In this work, the stories' settings range across time and space, from the colonial outback in the late nineteenth century to contemporary urban life in London and Rome and Paris, to both warring sides of the Second World War.

When I was thirteen, my father killed my mother. How do you recover from something like that? Carol never quite does. Sent to live with her aunt, who barely tolerates her presence, Carol is grief-stricken and desperate for love. Her Uncle Joey is the only one to notice her; years later, he's also the man with whom she builds a home and a life.

Desperate for love, but unable to ask for it, Carol nonetheless finds it where she least expected. Her Uncle Joey is the only one to notice her when she's a teenager; years later, he's also the man with whom she builds a home and a life. But when Carol helps to rescue a young refugee from the sea, that life suddenly threatens to unravel.