‘Beautifully written, exciting and unpredictable’
‘A gripping journey packed with adventures, secrets, struggles, devastation, but also courage and love’
‘Each page brings a new revelation’
‘A fab summer read to take on holiday’
‘When it was finished, I wanted more’
‘I don’t have enough words to describe how fantastic it is’
‘I totally recommend it’
‘If you thought you knew what was coming next you were wrong’
‘A thrilling ride’
‘Wow! What a book!’
‘One of the best debuts of 2014’
‘Found myself going to bed early just so I could read more’
‘Can’t wait for her next one!’
‘A beautifully atmospheric page turner’
‘I was enthralled’
‘I heartily recommend it’
‘Easily one of my top reads of 2014’
‘My goodness, what a spellbinding book’
‘I found myself sneaking off just so I could read the next chapter’
‘Extremely powerful’
‘Raw emotions that fill your heart’
‘Engaging, passionate, romantic and full of heart-warming and heart-wrenching moments’
‘I am highly anticipating her next book’
‘One of the best books I’ve ever read’
‘I simply loved it’
‘I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone’
To Paul and Jessica, my brother and sister
Busby-on-Sea, UK
March 1977
Faith lay still, the rain wetting her face and bouncing off the soft skin of her outstretched palms. She heard voices, footsteps, but couldn’t move, couldn’t call out. She looked up at the soaking tree branches above. If she narrowed her eyes slightly it almost looked like she was underwater, floating under a submerged tree…
Wouldn’t that be wonderful, discovering the drowned forest she and her sisters had spent their summers searching for? She remembered the first time she showed them the map she’d made. Three years ago. She was sixteen, so naïve then, so excited too. She’d hurried down the beach, the pebbles stretching out before her, the sky bright blue above, sun hot and hazy. When she caught sight of her sisters, she slowed down. She liked watching them when they were like this, quiet and still. Her thirteen-year-old sister, Charity – the youngest of the three – lay on a towel, chin tipped up towards the sun, eyes closed, wild black hair a tangle above her head. Her sunburnt legs stretched out from faded denim shorts, her halter-neck top matching her red knees. She was at that confusing age between girlhood and womanhood that Faith remembered so well.
Sitting behind Charity on a large white rock, her pale knees tucked up to her chest, was Hope. She watched the sea pensively as it foamed against the beach, the end of her pen in her mouth, notepad open in her other hand. The swimsuit she was wearing – an old one of their mother’s, swirling colours of green, red and blue – and the turquoise swimming cap that hid her long red hair made her look more like thirty than fifteen.
Faith quickened her step towards them, bare feet scrunching pebbles, the object of her excitement hidden behind her back.
Hope peered up first, face lighting up when she saw her older sister.
‘How’s the poem going?’ Faith asked her.
‘I’m stuck on the colour of the sea.’ A frown puckered her pale skin as she turned to look back out towards the sea. ‘It’s such a strange colour today, not blue or grey or green.’
‘Ribbons,’ Charity lazily murmured without opening her eyes. ‘Blue, grey and green ribbons.’
Faith smiled as she sat down next to Charity, pebbles warm beneath her bare calves.
‘Ribbons. I like that. You’re not so useless after all, Charity,’ Hope declared, scribbling in her notepad as Charity stuck her tongue out at her.
‘I’ve got something to show you both,’ Faith said.
Charity opened one eye, squinting up at her sister. ‘Please not another type of snorkel? Because honestly, they all look the same to me.’
Faith laughed. ‘I promise it’s not.’ She looked over at Hope, impatient. ‘Come on, I want to show you both together.’
Hope put her hand up. ‘Wait, I have one more line to write.’ She finished scribbling then snapped her notepad shut, shouting, ‘Finished!’ Then she jogged over to them, pulling her swimming cap off and raking her fingers through her wavy red hair as it fell around her thin shoulders.
‘So,’ Faith said as Hope joined them. ‘You know we’re going to travel the world when we’re old enough?’
Charity and Hope exchanged a smile. Faith always came up with fun adventures.
‘As Daddy pointed out, we can’t visit every single country in the world,’ Faith continued. ‘That would take us a lifetime. We need a focus.’
‘I quite agree,’ Hope said as Charity nodded.
‘Well, I’ve decided what our focus will be.’ She took a deep breath, looking at each of her sisters in turn, drawing out the drama.
‘Oh come on, Faith, don’t torture us,’ Charity said, bouncing up and down on her toes in anticipation.
‘We should focus on visiting submerged forests!’ Faith declared. ‘I was looking through the photos from Mum’s field trip last week in Austria, they’re beautiful!’
Charity went still. ‘Submerged what?’
‘You never listen when Mum tells us about her trips,’ Hope said, rolling her eyes.
‘They’re forests that disappear beneath the sea over time,’ Faith explained.
‘Mrs Tate read a poem in class about a whole town that got flooded in Wales after I told her where Mum was going,’ Hope said. ‘You can still see the remains of its forests when the tide goes out.’ She flicked through her notepad then tapped her finger on a page. ‘Here it is. “When waves crashed on the sea-shore / with thunder in its wake / The bells of Cantre’r Gwaelod / are silent ’neath the wave.”’
‘So these forests are a bit like Atlantis?’ Charity asked.
‘Kind of,’ Faith said. ‘But minus the buildings. And they’re not just beneath the sea. You can find them in lakes and rivers too. There’s one in Austria that only appears in the summer when the snow melts. The water floods the