The Last True Poets of the Sea

by Julia Drake

Hardcover, 400 pages

English language

Published Aug. 23, 2019 by Hyperion.

ISBN:: 978-1-368-04808-8

(5 reviews)

The Larkin family isn't just lucky—they persevere. At least that's what Violet and her younger brother, Sam, were always told. When the Lyric sank off the coast of Maine, their great-great-great-grandmother didn't drown like the rest of the passengers. No, Fidelia swam to shore, fell in love, and founded Lyric, Maine, the town Violet and Sam returned to every summer.

But wrecks seem to run in the family. Tall, funny, musical Violet can't stop partying with the wrong people. And, one beautiful summer day, brilliant, sensitive Sam attempts to take his own life.

Shipped back to Lyric while Sam is in treatment, Violet is haunted by her family's missing piece—the lost shipwreck she and Sam dreamed of discovering when they were children. Desperate to make amends, Violet embarks on a wildly ambitious mission: locate the Lyric, lying hidden in a watery grave for over a century.

She finds a fellow …

But wrecks seem to run in the family. Tall, funny, musical Violet can't stop partying with the wrong people. And, one beautiful summer day, brilliant, sensitive Sam attempts to take his own life.

She finds a fellow wreck hunter in Liv Stone, an amateur local historian whose sparkling intelligence and guarded gray eyes make Violet ache in an exhilarating new way. Whether or not they find the Lyric, the journey Violet takes—and the bridges she builds along the way—may be the start of something like survival.

2 editions

WardenRed reviewed The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake

None

5 stars

You’re a kid. Be lost. Ask questions. Be safe but stupid. Listen.

This is such a difficult book to review, even though I loved it to bits. It feels more like an experience or a mood than a story even though it most definitely has a plot, and character arcs, and all the other things that make a sequence of events and feelings book-shaped. Somehow, it reminded me a lot of when I was the characters' age, even though I faced completely different emotions, struggles, and situations. I can't say I was ever like Violet, or Liv, or any of the characters, but I still got caught remembering how I was just as confused and struggling to make sense of life and trying to shuffle through versions of myself to find one that didn't suck.

This is a story of families, and grief, and how it's not only the dead you can grieve for; of making sense of mental illness in the family and in your head; of learning to build connections; of letting go; of being a mess; of getting out of the mess you've made; of looking into the past to find the future; of shipwreck-hunting; of diving too deep and finding a way out. It's written in beautiful, beautiful prose, it contains some of the most hauntingly, viivdly engrossing snapshots of being by the sea I've encountered in literature since Ruthanna Emrys's Winter Tide, and a love triangle that actually makes sense.

It feels like being on the cusp of growing up: bittersweet and confusing and painful, and also full of wonder you don't immediately recognize. I wish I had books like this when I was that age.

no <3 reviewed The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake

Review of 'The Last True Poets of the Sea' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

I think I was destined to read this. It's got everything - an overly poetic title (titles make up about 60% of my decision to read a book), mental illness, gays, the beach but cold and rocky. The Last True Poets of the Sea perfectly fills the niche that [b:Moominpappa at Sea|79551|Moominpappa at Sea (The Moomins, #8)|Tove Jansson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386924188l/79551.SY75.jpg|76814] carved out in me when I was in second grade. 11/10, can't wait to reread.