How to Sail to Somewhere by Ashleigh Barton

Title: How to Sail to Somewhere

Author: Ashleigh Barton

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Lothian/Hachette

Published: 26^th March 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 280

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: A beautiful and deeply moving story about friendship, family, hope and the power of the ocean, for middle-grade readers who love a mystery, from popular children’s author Ashleigh Barton.

Beatrice Glass – Bea – lives in a tiny fishing village that’s sleepy all year until the summertime, when the tourists flock in and most of the locals leave. But summer is also when Bea’s favourite person in the entire world, her fun and hilarious uncle, Byron, comes to stay.

On their last day together the previous summer, Byron had given Bea an intriguing antique book containing a map of Somewhere, a mysterious island off the coast, and promised that next summer they’d sail to Somewhere together for their best adventure yet.

That was last year. Now summer has arrived, but Byron hasn’t. And now it looks like he never will.

Are the book and Byron’s disappearance linked? Byron has left some clues for Bea – a scavenger hunt of sorts designed to bring her and her new friend, Arabella, together and give Bea one last magical summer. Could Somewhere hold the key to both Bea’s and Arabella’s future?

A story of lost and found, of friendship, family, hope and the power of the ocean, for middle-grade readers who love a mystery.

~*~

Bea Glass’s life in Willow is quiet. She lives with her parents, who are always working, and where she usually spends her summers with her uncle, Byron. Summers filled with fun and adventure, where Bea isn’t ignored, and where she doesn’t have to be around tourists all the time. Last summer, Byron gave Bea a mysterious book before he left. A book that contained a map of an island called Somewhere – preparing her for their biggest adventure yet. But Byron didn’t come back, and he may never return, so Bea resigns herself to a summer alone. Until she meets Arabella, a girl from school who also has a fascination and connection to Somewhere. Together, they piece together the clues they’ve been left, getting ready to sail away on the biggest adventure yet that could answer their questions and see what their future holds.

How to Sail to Somewhere is a new middle-grade story from Ashleigh Barton, author of Solomon Macaroni. This book is a departure from this series, navigating family, friendship, loss, hope and the power of the ocean in a real-world setting. As Bea is trying to cope with never seeing Byron again and her parents never being around, never talking to her about what happened to her uncle and why he isn’t returning, she’s trying to work out what her summer will look like. The magic of summer feels like it’s gone without Byron – that is, until Bea meets Arabella. Even after years at school together, they’ve never really spoken until now. And Bea’s not sure if she wants to let Arabella in yet. The girls slowly become friends and unravel the mystery of Somewhere, a place that Arabella knows about to. As they uncover what they each know, Bea and Arabella find out that they each hold pieces of the puzzle, and work on unravelling the clues left behind.

It’s a book full of heart, joy, and sorrow, where the main characters are grappling with grief and confusion. An adventure is the last thing on Bea’s mind. And yet…Byron has left the clues for a reason. He wants her to go on the adventure. And it feels as though Bea was destined to become friends with Arabella. Real friends. Friends who can tell each other anything and share things – share a special and powerful connection that the girls don’t have in common with their other friends, or the people who see themselves as their friends. This is a story filled with heart and a quiet adventure of discovery, as much of the story builds up to finding the island of Somewhere. Bea and Arabella are wonderful characters, and it is always great to see the quieter girls or children at the forefront of stories. They’re not into the things that people might expect them to be in, and that is one of my favourite things about this book. They’re allowed to be themselves, and feel their feelings. Feelings that anyone might have in the face of tragedy or unknowns, because not everyone can understand or work out how to talk about things. It allows children to explore grief and dramatic changes in their world as well. It has joy in it as well, as Arabella and Bea see where they live in a different light.

There’s magic in this story. Not the magic we expect from wands and fairies and witches, but a joyous magic that comes with discovering something new, making new friends and going on an adventure that means something to both of the main characters. Loss is a central theme in this novel, showcasing the power of facing how you feel about loss, and family finding ways to talk about things that are painful for everyone. Because not everyone always knows how to address things. They may not know how they’re feeling, and this book reminds us that it is okay to be unsure and okay to face things together. Okay to face things in a way that might work best for you. Grief is a powerful emotion that everyone responds to differently, and I liked that this book acknowledged that. This is a quiet gem of a book that will have something in it for every reader.