Setsuko loves the sea.
She swims its shallows. She dives its depths.
But she worries that her friends have chosen to abandon her way of life.
Then she meets a whale who also fears he is the last of his kind.
In return for giving him hope, he gifts her a song
which she uses to remind people of the beauty of the ocean.
Setsuko took the song and made it her own.
They played together from the first crisp light of morning until the setting of the evening sun.
Everyone who heard Setsuko's song was filled with the wonder of the sea. They remembered the beauty and mystery of the ocean.
A story of an unlikely friendship, Setsuko and her friend the whale have one thing in common - their love of the sea.
Much like the revered ama-san, - women who have been diving off the coast of the Shima peninsula in Japan for over 2,000 years - Setsuko is a strong girl who is on the path to becoming one of these real-life mermaids.
10% of the net profits from each book will be donated to the Marine Conservation Society, the UK charity working for seas full of life. Visit www.mcsuk.org to find out more.
Fiona Barker works with people with dizziness and/or hearing loss and studies part-time for a PhD in psychology of behaviour change. She also appears in and writes sketches for her local drama group and leads a pop-up sign language choir. She lives in Berkshire and is mum to a feisty 10-year-old girl and married to Dave. Unlike Amelie, she loves being outsid
More about Fiona BarkerFiona Barker is positively potty about picture books. An author and founder of the hugely successful Picture Book Club in Windsor - a regular event that connects authors, illustrators and their audiences - Fiona is constantly working on new ideas. Having self-published her first book `Amelie and the Great Outdoors' (2016), Fiona has since written `Danny and
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