The Dragonfly Sea – A transcendent story of adventure, and the need for shelter in a dangerous world. (Paperback)

Our summary description

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On the island of Pate, off the Kenyan coast, Ayaana grows up between sea and land, shaped by tides, heat, and the quiet bond with her mother. Life is narrow and watchful until a sailor enters their world, offering Ayaana a sense of belonging she has never known, and the fragile idea of a wider future.

As she comes of age, that future is tested by forces far beyond the island’s reefs. History presses close. Faith hardens into danger. Outsiders arrive bearing promises, threats, and their own unfinished pasts. Nature itself refuses to stay still, reminding the island how little can truly be held.

Drawn onward by the sea she cannot abandon, Ayaana sets out on a long journey east, encountering intimacy and betrayal, tenderness and power, and the unsettling pull of lives unlike her own. The Dragonfly Sea is a richly textured novel of movement and survival, attentive to beauty and violence alike, and to the difficult search for shelter in a world that rarely offers it freely.