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The Last True Poets of the Sea Kindle Edition

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 326 ratings

Fans of Far from the Tree, We Are Okay and Emergency Contact will love this epic, utterly unforgettable contemporary novel about a lost shipwreck, a missing piece of family history, and weathering the storms of life. 

The Larkin family isn't just lucky—they
persevere. At least that's what Violet and her younger brother, Sam, were always told. When the Lyric sank off the coast of Maine, their great-great-great-grandmother didn't drown like the rest of the passengers. No, Fidelia swam to shore, fell in love, and founded Lyric, Maine, the town Violet and Sam returned to every summer. But wrecks seem to run in the family: Tall, funny, musical Violet can't stop partying with the wrong people. And, one beautiful summer day, brilliant, sensitive Sam attempts to take his own life.

Shipped back to Lyric while Sam is in treatment, Violet is haunted by her family's missing piece—the lost shipwreck she and Sam dreamed of discovering when they were children. Desperate to make amends, Violet embarks on a wildly ambitious mission: locate the
Lyric, lain hidden in a watery grave for over a century. She finds a fellow wreck hunter in Liv Stone, an amateur local historian whose sparkling intelligence and guarded gray eyes make Violet ache in an exhilarating new way. Whether or not they find the Lyric, the journey Violet takes—and the bridges she builds along the way—may be the start of something like survival.

Epic, funny, and sweepingly romantic,
The Last True Poets of the Sea is an astonishing debut about the strength it takes to swim up from a wreck.

From the Publisher

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Editorial Reviews

Review

*"Violet emerges as a genuine, sympathetic protagonist struggling to create something new from the wreckage of her life."--?Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"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

"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

*"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)

"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

"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

"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)

"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)

*"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)

*"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)

About the Author

Julia Drake grew up outside Philadelphia. As a teenager, she played some of Shakespeare's best heroines in her high school theater program, and their stories would stay with her forever. She received her BA in Spanish from Williams College, and her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, where she also taught writing to first-year students. She currently works as a book coach for aspiring writers and teaches creative writing classes for Writopia, a nonprofit that fosters love of writing in young adults. She lives in San Francisco with her partner and their rescue rabbit, Ned.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07R1N43GS
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (October 4, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1720 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 401 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0759554994
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 326 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
326 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They appreciate the engrossing character development and the human themes of loss, grief, and mental illness. The story is described as amazing and beautifully written.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

7 customers mention "Readability"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and easy to read. They say it's a worthwhile read that draws them into the characters' minds.

"14yo daughter loves it... and she's a well-read kiddo like her dad was ;) Cover looks great too." Read more

"...Overall, however, this book was a quick read that drew me into the minds of new characters and left me with much to think about...." Read more

"...It's absolutely a worthwhile read, though. It's joy and comfort and reassurance and acceptance and a reminder that it's ok to not be ok...." Read more

"...This is amazing." I wanted this book to go on forever. I'll probably reread this book a dozen times and still feel the need to read it again." Read more

3 customers mention "Character development"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoyed the character development. They found the characters earnest and human, though some wished more time had been spent on their growth. The themes of loss, grief, and mental illness were commendable.

"5 TEAR-SHREDDING, SOUL-MENDING, BEAUTIFUL STARS..." Read more

"...Violet is the ultimate flawed protagonist, but she's such an endearing character that I was constantly rooting for her...." Read more

"...Despite the engrossing nature of the character development, I do wish a bit more time had been spent uncovering the family genealogy and the..." Read more

3 customers mention "Story quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the story. They find it beautifully written and say it stays in the shallows until moments when it deepens.

"...able to tell from the prices so it might be my fault, the book is a wonderful story and it's in perfect condition, but the paperback was listed as..." Read more

"...In many ways, this book mirrored the ocean—the story stayed in the shallows until, in moments when you were not expecting it, the continental shelf..." Read more

"An amazing story, beautifully written. Amazing gift." Read more

Great Book!! Wrong Cover
5 out of 5 stars
Great Book!! Wrong Cover
Should've been able to tell from the prices so it might be my fault, the book is a wonderful story and it's in perfect condition, but the paperback was listed as being the most expensive option and I bought it anyway because I just press the buttons with my brain off. But, since it happens to be hardcover, I figure it can't hurt to just donate it to the library after my read so it's not a bad mistake just a bit different from what I wanted
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2022
    Should've been able to tell from the prices so it might be my fault, the book is a wonderful story and it's in perfect condition, but the paperback was listed as being the most expensive option and I bought it anyway because I just press the buttons with my brain off. But, since it happens to be hardcover, I figure it can't hurt to just donate it to the library after my read so it's not a bad mistake just a bit different from what I wanted
    Customer image
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!! Wrong Cover
    Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2022
    Should've been able to tell from the prices so it might be my fault, the book is a wonderful story and it's in perfect condition, but the paperback was listed as being the most expensive option and I bought it anyway because I just press the buttons with my brain off. But, since it happens to be hardcover, I figure it can't hurt to just donate it to the library after my read so it's not a bad mistake just a bit different from what I wanted
    Images in this review
    Customer image
    Customer image
  • Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2019
    5 TEAR-SHREDDING, SOUL-MENDING, BEAUTIFUL STARS

    Here’s the deal: I’m not here to provide a synopsis of the book, of every detail that happened along the way and to whom it happened to. You can read the summary for that, or other reviews.

    What I am going to tell is the important part. And that is how this story was about survival.

    But not the kind where you’re stuck on a faraway island with the ever looming probability that no one is coming to save you. Not the kind where you are lost in a wild forestry trying to find you’re way back home. Not the kind where you’re running away from someone trying to hunt you down.

    No.

    This was about trying to survive in yourself: in the skin you hate, in a mind that’s wired to make you feel unbearably depressed and utterly hopeless, in the voices that tell you to fade away so that you feel smaller and somehow less.

    It’s about fighting through the force of the big, ocean wave of sadness and brokenness threatening to pull you down, to crush you like it did to all those ships scattered on the ocean floor, to find your way back to the surface, breathing and alive, alive and breathing.

    Violet was broken.
    Sam, her brother, was broken.
    But, they didn’t become shipwrecks.
    They fought their way back to the top, back to life. Back to each other.

    And maybe someday, because this book exists (much curtesy to Julia Drake), I and those like me (stuck, lost, depressed) will learn how to do the same.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2021
    14yo daughter loves it... and she's a well-read kiddo like her dad was ;) Cover looks great too.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2020
    A Twelfth Night-inspired book that muses on tragedy, grief, mental illness, love and friendship. I found The Last True Poets of the Sea to be a quietly beautiful book full of characters who were messy and earnest and fun and ultimately deeply human. Violet is the ultimate flawed protagonist, but she's such an endearing character that I was constantly rooting for her. I absolutely loved the way the plot and details of Twelfth Night were woven into the book in very clever ways, while still making the book feel wholly unique. I also thought that the way the book handled the very complicated topics of loss, grief and mental illness was commendable. People in this story weren't just things to be fixed, they feel like living, breathing people who are full of complicated identities and whose path to peace is often not an easy one (though they are going to try anyway). Ultimately it was a book full of hope, and it left me deeply satisfied and impressed.
    4 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2020
    Really 3.5 Stars

    First Thoughts After Finishing: I want adventure in the great wide somewhere...and I miss the beach!

    I am (almost) always a fan of retellings, so when I saw that this was inspired by Twelfth Night and set in a coastal town of Maine, I knew that I needed to read this book. In many ways, this book mirrored the ocean—the story stayed in the shallows until, in moments when you were not expecting it, the continental shelf dropped away and the depths were open for exploration.

    Violet is descended from a shipwreck survivor who helped found the town of Lyric, Maine. She is convinced that she has the “shipwreck gene,” that her life is destined to be dashed into pieces on rocks and leave her floundering to recover. And in fact, that hardly seems far-fetched. A teenager at loose in New York City, she makes more than questionable decisions that leave her as emotionally frozen as if she had been the one thrown from safety into icy water rather than her great-great-great-grandmother. While her brother Sam struggles to cope with a mental disorder, Violet turns to the numbness of sex and drugs. After Sam’s suicide attempt, he is sent to treatment in Vermont, and Violet is sent to spend the summer with her uncle in Lyric. The city holds many memories for her, but a return to the past might be exactly what she needs for her family’s future. With the help of friends that she never expected to make, Violet embarks on a quest to uncover the long-lost shipwreck of Lyric and of her family.

    “Survival was its own quest: we needed to choose to survive over and over again. We had to wash up on shore, and we had to choose to keep washing up every single day.”

    Many contemporary stories are character-driven, and The Last True Poets of the Sea is no exception. The book followed the pace of a small coastal town, particularly one that is not overrun by tourists despite the summer season. The plot itself could have been distilled into a fourth of the pages, but the depth of the character development ensured that the book never felt slow. Violet is by turns fascinating and frustrating. I kept hoping for a revelation that would explain her self-destructive path, but one never came. However, this is not to say that her past was not explored. Certain stories were gradually revealed that made me sympathize all the more with Violet’s internal battle to be a better friend, daughter, and sister. She gave words to those feelings that are all too easy to creep in, particularly in an age of disconnectedness. Her brother might be the one with a diagnosis, but the exploration of Violet’s mind highlights how not all struggles come with a name. Throughout the book, her gradual realizations are important reminders for all readers, whether they are teenagers or adults.

    One of the highlights of this book is a slow-burn romance with emotions ebbing and flowing like waves lapping the shore. The relationships did not unfold in quite the way I was expecting; in fact, this book probably has one of the best uses of a love triangle that I have seen. For a long time, there were only small eddies of romantic current, but once Violet and Liv were able to admit to themselves and each other how they felt, it was like a tidal wave unleashed—so much feeling but almost over before it seemed like anything had happened. However, I loved the fact that even though there was queer representation, it was not the sole focus of the story. Being attracted to both sexes was only one facet of Violet’s character and hardly the one that defined her, which I appreciated.

    Friendships also played an important part in this book, particularly the idea of friendships as an anchor. I loved Violet’s diverse friend group, especially Orion, and I would have enjoyed seeing all of them interact more. Familial relationships also shared the spotlight. The Larkin family dynamic is one that is all too familiar—nothing is necessarily wrong, but at the same time, they are not the happy family they wish to be. I appreciated that there was a process to rebuild relationships; the family was not fixed by a single day or single conversation. Also, Toby may be the best uncle ever—I would like to sign up for his puzzles and pastries!

    Despite the engrossing nature of the character development, I do wish a bit more time had been spent uncovering the family genealogy and the shipwreck history rather than reading the unifying thread at the end of the book. Overall, however, this book was a quick read that drew me into the minds of new characters and left me with much to think about. I will look forward to seeing what Julia Drake writes next!

    Most Memorable Aspect: Exploring so many timely issues without over-labeling everything.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2020
    It's not an easy read, by any means. I'd cried twice before I was 50 pages in and I couldn't put it down. It's absolutely a worthwhile read, though. It's joy and comfort and reassurance and acceptance and a reminder that it's ok to not be ok. When I was finished I just sat there hugging my copy for a moment and dwelling in my gratitude.
    Customer image
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book is important.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2020
    It's not an easy read, by any means. I'd cried twice before I was 50 pages in and I couldn't put it down. It's absolutely a worthwhile read, though. It's joy and comfort and reassurance and acceptance and a reminder that it's ok to not be ok. When I was finished I just sat there hugging my copy for a moment and dwelling in my gratitude.
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    Customer image
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2022
    This book really drew me in with the narrator's unique voice. I like YA and ocean so that got me started but listening to Violet's thoughts, how messy and poetic and beautiful in her broken self she is, that's what kept me going.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • nectophilia
    5.0 out of 5 stars my GOD
    Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2022
    I laughed, cried, got hurt, fell in love, had butterflies... to be honest it left me speechless that i just physically hugged the book after i finished reading it. I can relate to sam so much it hurts :(
  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful and special book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 20, 2020
    Charming, profound, gorgeous. Such a pleasure to read!! I'd been meaning to read this for a while and I'm so glad I did.
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
    Reviewed in Canada on December 21, 2019
    Seriously. They should be teaching this instead of Catcher in the Rye. The parallels are there, but this is so much more relevant to now.

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