Told from two perspectives, we first meet Mira in an airport having just landed in the UK from India, she is young and newly married to Rajiv, their’s is a marriage built on practicality more than romance, and leaves her feeling untethered, both to her new husband and to the life she thought she was beginning in Leicester. She is intelligent, hopeful and sometimes awkward. She is nervous and unsure, about a lot of things, but she is determined to carve out a place for herself within her new family and her new country, learning skills and making friends, building a real life for herself.

And Tahliil, a Somali asylum seeker navigating the daily uncertainties of complicated paperwork, cash-in-hand jobs, and a traumatic past he would rather forget. He, like Mira, has bravery and determination that have not been dimmed, no matter what struggles he has faced, and continues to face. However, he is not dramatic in the slightest, he is matter-of-fact, soft and calm in nature, which made the bureaucratic hoops we see him have to jump through more frustrating.

They meet on Belgrave Road, the Leicester street bustling with shops and vibrant with culture, which feels almost like a third protagonist, anchoring their individual stories (and those of the various side characters) with its rhythms, its smells and its crowded pavements. Their connection grows in the everyday things, in conversations that jump between small talk and deeply personal experiences.

The story doesn’t just stay tightly focused on these two though… Mira’s mother-in-law and Rajiv’s cousin challenge stereotypes and add richness and depth. Tahliil’s family and Mr Stevens too, show us that life here isn’t neat and tidy, it’s layered and sometimes surprising. I really liked how the story expanded outside of their little bubble.

More than just a ‘love story’, it doesn’t shy away from the loneliness, the anxieties around visa status and what it means to belong somewhere. But these are all written about as lived realities, they are complicated and human. I really cared about ALL of the characters... without any spoilers, I cried my eyes out in the final few chapters!

Someone over at @elliottandthompson has clearly been paying attention because ya girl has an obsession with maritime history!

This one tells the true story of Mary Ann Patten, barely nineteen, the captain’s wife who, when her husband fell seriously ill mid-voyage, took the helm, took charge of his crew and navigated his ship through the dangerous Drake’s Passage… whilst also fending off a mutiny from a treacherous first mate.

Sounds exciting right?! And for the most part, yes, it was! It took me a while to find my sea-legs with it, there is a lot of background information in the first quarter of the book which overwhelmed me slightly, it was important to ground the couple, explaining the sea-faring connections of their families and laying the groundwork for their marriage, but I needed a family tree (and an additional map or two) to keep track of who was who and how they were connected, genetically and geographically. Once we set sail though, I was locked in.

There are moments in this narrative that felt utterly alive, I could almost hear the creak of the ship and taste the salt in the air. The author’s research is clearly meticulous… the geography is described with precision and the historical context around 19th century clippers, cargo races, and maritime hierarchies is very detailed.

And Mary Ann herself was fascinating! At first glance, a young, quiet and inexperienced wife, who used her intelligence, kindness and strength to step up, seemingly without hesitation, when there were no other choices. The fact that the sailors on the ship trusted and believed in her too tells you all you need to know! I would always have taken a little more of her thoughts and feelings, but I guess there isn’t much to refer too in terms of that so the author would have only been speculating. There was a lot of maritime history and, whilst I do like context, it slowed the emotional arcs of the story down. I did love the moments of drama at sea though!

If you have no interest in boats then it’s probably not for you, but it is a fascinating, well-researched narrative non-fiction read that, whilst slow to start, carried me on a wave of girl-power to the end!