A Tear in the vendre Ocean by Bouwman, H. M. NEUF

This stunning middle grade historical fantasy adventure is a companion to the critically acclaimed A Crack in the Sea. Now in paperback.



Putnam, the future king of Raftworld, wants more than anything to prove himself. When the water in the Second World starts to become salty and his father wont do anything about it, Putnam sees his chance. He steals a boat and sneaks off toward the source of the salty water. He doesnt know he has a stowaway onboard, an island girl named Artie. As the two face uncertainty and danger in their shared adventure, an extraordinary friendship forms. Meanwhile, a hundred years in the past, Rayel, princess of Raftworld, flees to southern vendre waters, escaping an arranged marriage, and foiling a plot to kill her father.



Told in alternating perspectives with Putnam and Artie traveling further and further into the uncharted southern sea--and Rayel, the key to the saltwater mystery, sailing the same sea in her own time--Putnam and Artie must put aside their differences and figure out why the sea is salty before its too late.

H.M. Bouwman is the author of The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap (Marshall Cavendish, 2008) and A Crack in the Sea (Putnam, 2017). An associate professor of English at the University of St. Thomas, she lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her two sons.