A Sea Tale of Ecological Import
A Review of
Break Wide the Sea
Sara Holland
Hardcover: Wednesday Books, 2025
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Reviewed by Ann Byle
Readers will feel the salt on their skin and wind whipping their hair, hear the sound of roaring waves, and experience the heartbreak of curses and death in Sara Holland’s magnificent novel Break Wide the Sea.
This tale takes readers from the halls of Kirkrell, a whaling town dominated by the Fairfax Whaling Company, to raging seas of the far north in search of Livyatan, magic whales that feed the Kirkrell economy and people.
Annie Fairfax is the heir to the Fairfax Whaling Company. Her past and future are tied to her fiancé, August Hargreave, and her enemy Silas Price. The trio were survivors of a whale attack that killed Annie’s parents when she was a teenager. August seems to love her, but his behavior and clandestine plans hint at more deadly motives. Silas, a mariner, seems to hate her, but Annie must trust him if she wants to be healed of a curse that will eventually take her life. But hate and love are perilously close together for Silas and Annie.
Beneath the roiling sea are the finfolk, who rule the waters and cast curses on humans and happily kill them. Those curses can range from an inability to keep money in pockets to Annie’s curse that when her heart is broken she’ll turn into a monster. For years she’s plucked scales from her arms and filed her sharp nails and hid it all with gloves. Silas, who is half finfolk, promises to take her to the queen of the finfolk.
Silas, Annie, and August are part of a crew that sets out aboard the new ship Heralder for Kielstraat, a town far to the north that August hopes to turn into a whaling outpost. As the Livyatan numbers dwindle and the pods move north, the city’s future seems to depend on more whales. But Silas wants to end whaling and will stop at almost nothing to do so.
Throw in Annie’s sister joining them on the Heralder, her young brother a stowaway, a mysterious prisoner, and the killing of a mother Livyatan, and readers will hardly be able to put this book down. It’s a tale of ecological import, a love story, a fantasy, and a sea tale that will keep readers turning pages until the emotional end. Break Wide the Sea will also challenge readers to consider how we treat our oceans, our relationship with higher beings, who and why we trust, and what sacrifice truly means.
Ann Byle
Ann Byle lives in West Michigan with her science teacher husband, Ray. Their young adult children are in and out regularly. Ann writes for Christianity Today and Publishers Weekly, among other publications, and is author of Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens.
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