Nine beautifully evocative short stories from the pen of Governor General’s Award finalist Michelle Kadarusman.

On islands around the world—from Manhattan to Phillip Island, Australia, to Komodo Island and beyond—nine children face life-changing moments: escaping a flood; embracing their identity; discovering that the adults in their lives can ease the burden of their eco-anxiety. And although each child couldn’t be more different, one thing connects them all: a turtle swam into each of their lives at a critical moment, and left them changed.

Author Michelle Kadarusman has lived and travelled all around the world, and her elegant writing captures the spirit of the places that have left their mark on her. In We the Sea Turtles, she explores relevant themes like eco-anxiety, natural disaster, and how people ground themselves when they’ve been uprooted. One way, as this collection shows, is to tell ourselves stories: stories that make sense of life.