Orphans of the Tide by Struan Murray

In the opening scene of this book a whale has washed up and is now on the roof of the cathedral. Here are the first sentences which go some way to explaining how this could have happened:

"The city was built on a sharp mountain that jutted improbably from the sea, and the sea kept trying to claim it back. When the tide rose, it swallowed up the City's lower streets. When the tide fell, it spat them back out again, but left its mark. ... That great morning, once the tide had retreated, a whale was found of a rooftop."

Ellie Lancaster seems to be the only person who has any sense. She is just a young girl aged twelve or thirteen but she is the only one who initially tries to think of a way to get this whale back into the sea? Then when this seems impossible she is the only person in the crowd who knows when whales die they decay from the inside. This will cause a build up of gas inside the whale and eventually the whale will explode. Ellie asks her friend Anna to hurry away and fetch her flensting tool. Ellie sits beside the whale while it dies and then she thrusts the sharp blade into its side. This all happens in first chapter which ends with the words:

 "A hand reaching out from the cut in the whale."

Ellie keeps cutting and then she pulls a boy out from the inside of the whale. He is alive. Ellie has rescued him but now his life and hers are in danger because everyone thinks this boy, who Ellie names Seth, is the Enemy. The Whale Lords and the Inquisition want to prove Seth is the Enemy and then they will execute him. Ellie knows for sure Seth is totally innocent but how can she truly know this?

This is a complex fantasy, set in a complex other world but you are in safe hands with Struan Murray because he has created a city that somehow makes sense. The City is densely populated, dangerous, smelly, filled with superstitions and strange beliefs and it is a place where people are always on the look out for the Enemy and the Vessel who is host to the Enemy. The world that exists in this book is so interesting I just had to keep reading on trying to discover what was happening and why these things were happening.

This book paints vivid pictures of the city and of the people who live there:

"A tall, broad-shouldered man was marching up the steps towards her. He had dark brown skin, a short black beard and moustache, and wore a long trailing coat of crushed red velvet. He carried a cane made from the tusk of a narwhal, and the pelt of a gigantic, shaggy black wolf was drapped on his shoulders - its head dangling off to one side."

One of the most appealing parts of this book was the character of Ellie. She is an inventor and those skills are  put to excellent use as she and her friends need to escape capture. She is incredibly brave or a better word might be fearless. She jumps off the roof of tall building and she crawls through the sewers under the city. Ellie is a wonderful friend - loyal and caring. But Ellie is also very, very vulnerable.

This is a debut novel by Struan Murray who grew up in Edinburgh. He is lecturer in biochemistry at Oxford University. Read this interview where he talks about his book. I highly recommend Orphans of the Tide for avid readers aged 11+. This is a new book - it was released in late February, 2020. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advanced reader copy.