Carolyn Phelan, Booklist, Orphan Hannah Albury, 15, the engagingly demure yet plucky heroine, has always been drawn to the ocean. Nicely designed, this compelling novel has an attractive jacket illustration showing a rather modern-looking Hannah in her element, the sea. Elements within the painting, which sounds similar to John Singer Sargent’s Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, become pivotal points in the setting and the story. The first book in a series about sisters separated at birth, this novel has menacing, almost gothic overtones as well as a strong sense of time, place, and class distinctions. Slowly, she becomes aware that she is transforming into a daughter of the sea. A mysterious, rather romantic figure, he seems to see into Hannah’s soul. She returns to Boston and takes a position as a scullery maid in a wealthy household, where a young artist comes to paint a portrait of her employers’ three daughters. Stricken by a mysterious malady when she is sent westward on an orphan train, 15-year-old Hannah instinctively knows that she can be cured by proximity to the ocean.
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