Whalespeak: A Novel

by Liz Collins

Told from above and below the ocean's surface...

When forty-one humpback whales mysteriously strand themselves on the New Jersey coast, Gaelic singer and long-distance swimmer Sloane Murphy recognizes one of them immediately. The scar above his eye belongs to a whale she has known since surviving a devastating boating accident years before. As he struggles to stay alive, Sloane realizes he is trying to communicate a desperate warning—and she is the only person who can understand.

Working alongside marine mammal language specialist Eiden, Sloane is drawn into an extraordinary connection that challenges her lifelong fear of intimacy. But when Eiden suddenly disappears, her search for him uncovers a conspiracy that reaches far beyond the stranded whales. The secrets hidden beneath the waves could silence the whales' extraordinary knowledge and put the future of the planet itself at risk.

Beneath the ocean's surface, the humpback leader Shwona has been given one command: stay with the swimmer. She is more important than anyone yet understands.

A sweeping novel of love, loss, mystery, and the profound intelligence of the natural world, Whalespeak will captivate readers who love the emotionally rich, nature-centered fiction of Charlotte McConaghy.

Praise for Whalespeak: A Novel

“... pulls us under the rising tide of tension between technology and the natural world, gasping as hope threatens to vanish for the future of life both underwater and on shore.”

—Cindy Ellen Hill, author of Elegy for the Trees and Love in a Time of Climate Change

About the Author Liz Collins has been a mixed-media artist for over forty years. She has taught art retreats around the world, including in Italy, France, Greece and Mexico. Writing has been her “hidden” love throughout her art career. Her short stories and poems have been published in journals such as Earth Daughters, Raven’s Perch, and Harbinger. Solas Traveler’s Tales awarded her an honorable mention for her short story, “The Bathroom.” Her collaborative book of poetry was published by Inner Thicket Press. Liz’s fascination with the extraordinary possibility of whale intelligence inspired her to write Whalespeak, her debut novel. She lives in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains in northern California.

Friday, September 4, 4PM | The Book Seller • Grass Valley, CA

BOOK LAUNCH: Liz Collins in Conversation with Local Author Sands Hall at The Book Seller

The first Whalespeak book launch event filled up quickly, so a second launch has been added! Dive into this exciting novel as Liz Collins speaks with well-known local author Sands Hall about the novel's inspiration, whales, and writing!

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Publishing the Brilliant Work of Women Authors over 50

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