Supple and taut, brutal and delicate, Woman At Sea pulled me about with the tug and thrust of an ocean-storm. The roars gave way to calm spells, though, so intensely beautiful I thought them made by magic. With whip-crackingly smart dialogue, and prose as clean as a sea-breeze, this book is delightfully, heartstoppingly frank. I devoured it, and will be pressing it on everyone I know.

Vividly evoked… Poulain’s visceral account of what it’s like to live such a heightened existence is gripping.

A vivid account of hard graft in treacherous conditions ... The salt-stung pages practically reek of the cod that the 30-something narrator, Lili, spends her days gutting, as she wins over a gruff crew doubtful she can earn her keep.

Poulain’s enthralling book… is utterly compelling. Like a tiny, vibrant dart hurled into an immensity of sea and sky, Lili commands attention throughout.

A debut novel of dazzling beauty.

A tale of travel and adventure, the story of a body utterly surrendered to pain and joy. It is mind-blowing, a delight.

A breath of fresh air ... the most unusual and enthralling account of the human condition.

An untamed successor to Conrad and Melville ... a stunning, roaring first novel.

An extraordinary and ultimately life-affirming novel, distilling what 58 years on this earth has taught Poulain about herself, and about others who share her desire to reach the edge of the world and peer over into what lies beyond.

Spring sees a raft of female voices share stories of women in the wilderness. We love ... Woman at Sea by Catherine Poulain.

It had me laughing one moment then in tears the next… A well-told story of what life throws at us and how we adapted to tell our story, our ubuntu.

Dalila is one of the best pieces of fiction I’ve read in a while. Succinct yet beautifully descriptive, it would be impossible for any reader to come away from it without a renewed or newfound sympathy for genuine asylum seekers. This is an absorbing, heartbreaking novel.

Utterly compelling. Dalila, a multi-layered story of more than one displaced life, is as up-close, resonant and right-now as it gets.

Dalila is a riveting examination of one of today's most urgent issues. Telling the story of a young and desperate Kenyan asylum-seeker, Jason Donald writes with insight (and considerable inside knowledge) about the particular purgatory through which she and so many like her have to pass. All the more powerful for not being a mere polemic, Dalila is grippingly authentic, transparently truthful and exceptionally moving.

A compelling novel of a young woman’s struggle to find safety in a hostile world, Dalila examines some of the most important issues of our age. Powerful, compassionate and deeply human.

The character of Dalila, so courageous and dignified, so unassuming and yet so resilient, lives with the reader long after the book has been put down.