Alone on a Wide Wide Sea

How far would you go to find yourself? The lyrical, life-affirming novel from the bestselling author of Private Peaceful.

There were dozens of us on the ship, all ages, boys and girls, and we were all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye, I thought they were waving good-bye. None of us spoke. It was a grey day with drizzle in the air, the great sad cranes bowing to the ship from the docks as we steamed past. That is all I remember of England…

When orphaned Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after WWII he loses his sister, his country and everything he knows. The coming years will test him to his limits, as he endures mistreatment, neglect and forced labour in the Australian outback. But Arthur is also saved, again and again, by his love of the sea. And when he meets a nurse whose father owns a boat-building business, all the pieces of his broken life come together.

Now, at the end of his life, Arthur has built a special boat for his daughter Allie, whose love of the sea is as strong and as vital as her father's. Now Allie has a boat that will take her to England solo, across the world's roughest seas, in search of her father's long-lost sister… Will the threads of Arthur's life finally come together?

About the author

Sir Michael Morpurgo OBE FRSL FKC DL is a writer, playwright, performer and librettist. The author of more than 150 children’s books, he has sold over 35 million copies worldwide and in almost 40 languages. A former teacher and vocal spokesperson for the benefits of reading for pleasure, he is currently the President of Book Trust. Between 2003–2005 he was Children’s Laureate and in 2018 he was knighted for services to literature and charity. Many of Michael’s books have been adapted for stage and screen, including the phenomenal National Theatre adaptation of War Horse, which has been seen by over 10 million people in over 100 cities around the world, broke the West End record for weekly ticket sales, and won 5 Tony Awards and 2 Olivier Awards. Michael is also the co-founder, with his wife Clare, of the charity Farms for City Children.