"Julia Drake's debut is that rare book that will take you from tears to laughter with a single page turn. You will be completely swept away by this beautiful story of love, healing, and forgiveness."--?Abby Rice, Lead Bookseller, The Briar Patch (Bangor, ME)
"When you find a book that you are absolutely enamored with, it is so hard to rework the English language to say how much it meant to you. This book is all indescribable feelings; the moment the lights go down before a concert begins, coming up with exact change, seeing a friend you haven't in ages... a warm shirt straight out of the dryer. Get ready for some emotional tides because on the surface this book is about a shipwreck but its contents are oceans deep."--?Nichole Cousins, White Birch Bookseller (Conway, NH)
"A mystery, a redemption story, a family story, a love story, a best friend story, and a whole lot of incredible, vivid writing. I know readers are going to root for Violet and want to ride out the waves of life, love, and loss with her."--?Angie Manfredi, Youth Services Consultant, State Library of Iowa
"At once hilarious, insightful, and swashbuckling, Drake's debut is a lyrical adventure like no other."--?David Arnold, New York Times best-selling author of Mosquitoland?David Arnold, New York Times best-selling author of Mosquitoland
"As warm and bright as a beach bonfire on a hazy summer night, The Last True Poets of the Sea will lift you up on a tide of love and lyricism, and carry you away, laughing and crying."--Jeff Zentner, Morris Award-winning author
"This story of a young woman coming to terms with herself and her family is so filled with virtues and heart that it is hard to know where to begin. It is at once tender and incisive, profound and page-turning, warm and beautifully written and very funny."--?Madeline Miller, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Circe and Song of Achilles
*"Wry, quick-witted, and filled with deep grief and fathomless joy in equal measure, this is a triumphant debut. Echoes of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and the barest touches of magical realism give shape to the story, which precisely and profoundly maps the ebbs and flows of surviving through trauma."--Booklist (starred review)
*"A warm, wise, strange meditation on developing the strength to be vulnerable."--?Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
*"Drake has created an authentic and romantic tale, loosely based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, that shows that life can be embraced again even after enduring a tragedy."--School Library Journal (starred review)
*"Violet emerges as a genuine, sympathetic protagonist struggling to create something new from the wreckage of her life."--?Publishers Weekly (starred review)
*"Drake's enthralling debut doesn't shy away from the big stuff. The Last True Poets of the Sea explores themes of identity, mental health, romance and family with grace and gravitas."--BookPage (starred review)