I was introduced to Polly's work when I interviewed her at Felixstowe Book Festival in 2019. We were talking then about her novel 'Tiger' and I was intrigued by the extent of her research for that extraordinary book. This has been the case with her new novel, too. Despite inexperience and seasickness, Polly sailed the Bay of Biscay to live the story she tells in 'Ocean'.  

This is an amazing story. I never quite knew which way it was going, and I was intrigued and bewitched by the central character, an inner city teacher, mother and wife, called Helen.

We begin with a musing about marriage and relationships but suddenly life is upended when Helen, who is pregnant, is on the tube in a terrorist attack. She is lost and injured but led to safety by a stranger who then disappears. Helen becomes obsessed with finding him and her old life, and family, seems no longer relevant or important. 

Helen's husband, Frank, realises their marriage is in trouble so in a desperate attempt to save the family proposes that they buy a boat and, with son Nicholas and foster daughter Susi, sail the Atlantic. So begins an incredible voyage.

This novel is both funny and moving, authentic and far-fetched, real and symbolic. You find yourself rooting for the characters, then being frustrated and troubled by them, disliking them then acknowledging their redeeming features. And throughout it all, the writing is beautiful and compelling. I loved it. I want to read it again.