my first book

From women who take their lives in their hands diving through the oceans for their livelihood, to those that seek release by plunging through ice, the relationship between women and water is as beautiful and profound as the oceans themselves. Water is a giver of life, a protector of the unborn child, a source of joy, energy, comfort and healing; it is a force. Equally present is the force that flows through women as sisters, friends, mothers and daughters; an unseen power that matches the ferocity and fluidity of the waves. 

It is in this space that women find something that they perhaps don’t even know they have lost. It may be their voice, their identity, their sense of adventure, their connection to something that has been just out of their reach. A renewed sense of purpose and vitality, and a community of others who understand. 

Breaking waves intertwines stories of women around the world with my own experiences, all of us having experienced the water in a unique way. From tasting an iceberg in Antarctica to receiving a kiss from a baby humpback whale in the South Pacific, from connecting to the memory of those that have gone before, to being protectively cocooned in a birth pool with those that are yet to live, this follows how women take up space in water. My story hinges on the tragic death of my brother as a young man, and the diminishing of my voice as the colour seeped out of my world. Then taking the reader on a journey of hope and renewal as water became the medium within which I healed, and rediscovered adventure, deep connection and utter joy. 

This is a collective history made possible thanks to the generosity of its intergenerational and intersectional contributors.