Soundings

A prize-winning author's memoir about a mother and son following the migration of grey whales to Alaska

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'BEAUTIFUL . . . JUSTIFIES ITS PLACE ALONGSIDE NATURE WRITING CLASSICS SUCH AS H IS FOR HAWK' NEW STATESMAN BEST BOOKS OF 2022

'STRIKING, BRAVE AND OFTEN LYRICAL' GUARDIAN

'WHAT A VOICE! WHAT A BOOK!' CHARLES FOSTER, AUTHOR OF BEING A HUMAN

From the lagoons of Mexico to Arctic glaciers, grey whale mothers are swimming with their calves, past predatory orcas, through a warming sea. For ten thousand miles, they endure one of the longest mammalian migrations on the planet. Following them, by bus, train and ferry, are Doreen Cunningham and her young son Max, in pursuit of a wild hope: that their family of two can make it by themselves.

Doreen first visited Utqiagvik, the northernmost town in Alaska, as a young journalist reporting on climate change among indigenous whaling communities. There, she joined the spring whale hunt under the neverending Arctic light, watching for bowhead whales and polar bears, drawn deeply to an Iñupiaq family and their culture amid the disappearing ice.

Years later, plunged into sudden poverty and isolation after becoming a single parent, Doreen embarks on an extraordinary journey: following the grey whale migration all the way north to the Iñupiaq family that took her in, where grey and bowhead whales meet at the melting apex of our planet.

Soundings is the story of a woman reclaiming her life, mile by mile; a child growing to love an ocean that is profoundly endangered; and a mother learning from another species how to parent in a time of unprecedented change. Intrepid, brave and breathtaking, her travels will take you to the ends of the earth, alongside the whales that call it home.

'BEAUTIFUL AND BRAVE, AND STARTLING IN ITS RAW HONESTY' NEIL ANSELL, AUTHOR OF DEEP COUNTRY

'STUNNING: FRESH, BRAVE AND UNIQUE' DAMIAN LE BAS, AUTHOR OF THE STOPPING PLACES

'A BOOK TO BE DEVOURED' RAMITA NAVAI, AUTHOR OF CITY OF LIES

'COMPLETELY UNIQUE AND UNFORGETTABLE' ERICA WAGNER

'INTIMATE AND FASCINATING' MARK BOYLE, AUTHOR OF THE WAY HOME

'BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND GRIPPING' DANIEL LAVELLE, AUTHOR OF DOWN AND OUT

'FASCINATING: AN INTIMATE JOURNEY THROUGH A WORLD ALREADY ALTERED BY CLIMATE CHANGE' SJON, AUTHOR OF THE WHISPERING MUSE