<p><b>'I didn't want it to end' - Maggie O'Farrell<br>'An exquisite, evocative coming-of-age story that takes place in a world on the cusp of great change' - <i>Observer</i> </b><br><b>'Utterly exquisite' - Imogen Hermes Gowar</b><br><br>It is 1938 and for Manod, a young woman living on a remote island off the coast of Wales, the world looks ready to end just as she is trying to imagine a future for herself. The ominous appearance of a beached whale on the island's shore, and rumours of submarines circling beneath the waves, have villagers steeling themselves for what’s to come. Empty houses remind them of the men taken by the Great War, and of the difficulty of building a life in the island's harsh, salt-stung landscape.<br><br>When two anthropologists from the mainland arrive, Manod sees in them a rare moment of opportunity to leave the island and discover t
