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Button Hall

Pub date February 25, 2026

ISBN 9798991851541

Print length 320

Price $34.99 (USD) Hardcover, 18.99 Paperback, $9.99 Kindle edition

Author interview

Ward delivers a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that intertwines personal resilience with the fragile beauty and wounded reality of the ocean. After walking away from the life she once knew, seventeen-year-old Meg Pullman boards a Pacific research vessel as an intern, certain the vast ocean will lead her toward independence. But the sea she encounters is marked by environmental scars that echo her own unresolved past. As friendships form and a chance encounter with a humpback whale reshapes her understanding of the world, Meg must finally face the past she has been trying to escape. 

Ward brings the working life of a scientific vessel to the page with careful attention to detail. The routines, systems, and cooperation required to sustain research at sea are conveyed with clear and thoughtful precision. Running alongside Meg’s personal journey is a quiet reflection of the ocean’s own fragility. Scenes involving pollution, lost fishing gear, and vulnerable marine species underscore the environmental pressures confronting the research team. Meg is written with nuance and restraint. She is disciplined and determined, yet cautious about letting others too close. The crew’s camaraderie provides a sense of belonging that stands in contrast to the isolation Meg has long known. By weaving environmental awareness with a personal story of growth, Ward offers a narrative that reflects on responsibility to the planet and to one another. The novel ultimately considers how confronting both external challenges and private struggles can shape the path toward adulthood. 

An un-put-downable read.

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