All Hands on Deck

After the death of her wife, retired marine biologist Sarah faces a startling set of choices in her pursuit of love, friendship, and harmony with the natural world

ANTARCTICA, A LOCALE OF EXISTENTIAL RECKONING, was the crucible for Sarah’s two most defining moments: there, she conducted groundbreaking krill research with her wife, Kendra—work that could help save the planet; and she also shared a passionate, fleeting love affair with a married scientist she would never see again.

Now in her early sixties, Sarah’s days on the ice are done, but her world has not stopped spinning. Reeling from Kendra’s sudden death, she finds fragile peace in her coastal fort and a surprising kinship with Blue, a homeless beachcomber. But it’s her burgeoning alliance with Ramona, an impulsive young climate activist hired to care for Sarah’s garden, that pulls her into an entirely new kind of danger.

When a desperate Ramona shows up at her doorstep, Sarah makes a high-risk decision: a wild, cathartic run for the Canadian border. As she navigates the legal and emotional perils of aiding a fugitive, Sarah must confront grief, climate anxiety, and her own complicated past. Misadventure becomes its own salvation, giving Sarah a chance to carve out a future that is truly her own—and perhaps, to rediscover a love she thought was lost forever in the frozen silence of Antarctica.