An Indigenous teen fights to clear her brother of a murder charge by embracing her gift of hearing the sea’s prophetic thoughts in this debut young adult speculative thriller that’s Firekeeper’s Daughter meets A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

Eighteen-year-old Moe hears the sea’s prophetic thoughts. Not just hear them—she feels them. That’s how she experienced her father’s death before he did and how she felt her mother’s relief when she abandoned Moe and her younger brother, Tao, months later.So when the sea warns Moe that Tao will drown, she’s determined to get in fate’s way and soon secures them a way off their island home. But those plans are ruined when Tao’s girlfriend goes missing and Tao is found where she was last seen… with blood on his hands—and no memory of what happened.

Moe will do anything she can to clear her brother’s name, even if it means swallowing her pride and teaming up with her annoyingly clever school rival, Temanea. Even if it means relying on the sea’s prophecies.Because her dreaded gift may be the only way to save her brother—and uncover a sickness lurking in their community before it poisons them all.

Out November 17, 2026
Simon & Schuster (US)
Allen & Unwin (ANZ)

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Manuia is a Tahitian-Chinese writer based in Aotearoa New Zealand. Raised in the francophone Pacific in a large and loving family, she's a researcher and educator with a PhD in Pacific Studies from Victoria University of Wellington (something she’s eternally recovering from!). An advocate for Pacific Islander voices, she co-founded the non-profit organization Pacific Islanders in Publishing.

For any publishing inquiries, please reach out to my agent Marin Takikawa at The Friedrich Agency. For Inquiries about Pacific Islanders in Publishing, email us at pacificislanderbooks[at]gmail.com.If you have any questions or simply want to say hi, drop me a line below!