Beasts of the Sea

"A sprawling, seething epic" Lucy Steeds, winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize "As deep and profound as the sea itself" Philip Hoare "Almost hypnotically readable" Guardian "Remarkable" The Times 1741. The crew of Vitus Bering''s ill-starred Great Northern Expedition are shipwrecked off a remote, uncharted island. With no hope of rescue, they give in to despair. Until they discover the flesh of a huge marine mammal that feeds in herds on the kelp in the bay. 1859. The Russian colony of Alaska is on the brink of collapse. Governor Hampus Furuhjelm takes solace in the quest for a unique artefact: a complete skeleton of what is now known as Steller''s Sea Cow, rumoured to have disappeared a hundred years before. Even extinct, the sea cow will continue to shape lives and destinies, from the woman charged with sketching its likeness from its bones, to the expert egg