Julia is a girl taken by her parents to live at a lighthouse on an isolated island off the coast of Scotland. Her dad is a mathematician and her mom is a biologist. They are there for mom to search for an elusive shark species that has attributes that will slow down the aging projcess in humans. As the novel unfolds we learn that mom is battleing psychological issues that will lead her to a suicide attempt and Julia goes looking for the shark. This novel is somewhat heavy for young adults but the author ends the book with mental health and environmental resources for readers. ( )

The bed was a boat,
the shark a tide,
and it pulled me so far out to sea
I was only a speck, a spot, a mote,
a dying star in an unending sky.

A lovely short middle grade book about family and emotions.
It did not feel particularly original (main character moves to a new location, makes a friend, meets a bully and doesn't understand why parents fight), but all of these known tropes were used well so it didn't bother me.
The highlight of the book was definitely the atmosphere. Both the writing and the illustrations evoke an amazing setting of rugged Greenland, cold winds and the sea.

I read an ARC so the final illustrations might be different ( )

This story was truly beautiful and meaningful ( )