*Editorial Book Review*
By Tonya Ulynn Brown
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Quebec, Canada, 1847.
While trying to escape the Potato Famine, shipwrecked Irish immigrant Breanna Clarey awakens injured and alone on an unfamiliar beach. To make matters worse, she has been separated from her family, and her friend, Crow, is lying dead at her feet. But when Dawson Roberts, a reclusive fisherman with a guarded past and big dreams for his future, finds Breanna, he puts his plans on hold to offer her shelter and help find her family.
But life for an Irish immigrant isn’t easy. Facing a deadly quarantine station, dangerous immigration officials, and grief over her missing family, Breanna struggles to exert her independence and navigate her new world. While Breanna confronts an unknown future, Dawson is plagued by a painful past. They each must determine their own course, even if it means ignoring the pull they have on each other.
When the future takes an unexpected turn, only the ocean that has brought them so much devastation can help them find their way back to where they belong.
Tonya Ulynn Brown’s “What the Ocean Brings” is an emotionally absorbing work of historical fiction set against the devastating backdrop of the Irish Famine migration to Canada in 1847. Inspired by the wreck of the Carricks off the coast of Gaspé, the novel explores survival, displacement, prejudice, and emotional healing through the experiences of Breanna Clarey and Dawson Roberts. Brown approaches the period with sensitivity and restraint, allowing the emotional weight of the story to emerge naturally through the lives of her characters rather than through unnecessary sentimentality.
The novel opens with Breanna Clarey clinging to rocks after the wreck of the Carricks, injured, freezing, and traumatised by the death of her friend during the chaos of the storm. Separated from her family and stranded upon an unfamiliar coastline, Breanna is immediately placed in a position of profound uncertainty. Brown handles these early scenes particularly well, capturing not only the physical danger of the shipwreck itself, but also the emotional disorientation that follows survival. Breanna’s grief is compounded by the painful uncertainty surrounding the fate of her family, leaving her suspended between hope and mourning throughout much of the narrative
What makes Breanna such a compelling protagonist is the realism with which Brown portrays her emotional state. She is neither idealised nor unrealistically resilient. Instead, she often appears exhausted, frightened, hesitant, and emotionally overwhelmed by all she has endured. Yet despite this vulnerability, there remains a quiet determination within her that allows her to continue moving forwards even when hope seems fragile. Brown allows Breanna’s emotional recovery to unfold gradually, giving her journey an authenticity that feels deeply human.
Dawson Roberts emerges as an equally strong character. Rather than presenting him as a conventional romantic hero, Brown writes Dawson as a reserved and often uncertain man shaped by loneliness, disappointment, and responsibility. His decision to hide Breanna from the authorities after rescuing her immediately reveals both his compassion and his understanding of the dangers faced by Irish immigrants arriving in Canada during the famine years. Fear of disease hangs heavily over the novel, and Dawson knows that discovery could result in Breanna being sent into quarantine amongst desperately ill immigrants arriving from overcrowded fever ships.
The relationship between Dawson and Breanna develops with notable patience and emotional realism. Brown wisely avoids melodrama, instead allowing trust and affection to grow through shared experience, companionship, and small acts of care. Much of the emotional strength of their relationship lies in what remains unspoken. Silence, observation, and quiet gestures often carry greater emotional significance than dramatic declarations, lending their connection a sincerity that feels believable throughout.
Brown also explores Dawson’s emotional insecurities with considerable nuance. Through his former relationship with Adelais, the novel reveals how deeply Dawson has come to associate love with financial security and social expectation. Adelais’s abandonment leaves lasting scars upon him, shaping his belief that he must provide material comfort to deserve love and companionship. This belief drives many of his choices, including his willingness to continue dangerous fishing for crabs despite preferring the quieter life of farming and tending sheep. Breanna’s values stand in direct contrast to Adelais’s. Where Adelais seeks refinement, status, and comfort, Breanna values honesty, kindness, loyalty, and emotional safety. Through this contrast, Brown quietly examines differing ideas of love, stability, and fulfilment.
The wider historical realities of Irish immigration are handled thoughtfully throughout the novel. Brown addresses not only the suffering caused by famine and displacement, but also the fear and hostility Irish immigrants encountered upon arrival in Canada. The Irish are frequently treated with suspicion, viewed by many as carriers of disease and disorder. However, Brown avoids reducing these attitudes to simplistic cruelty. Instead, she portrays a society shaped by panic, fear of contagion, and social instability. This complexity allows the historical tensions within the novel to feel convincing rather than exaggerated.
Particularly effective are the scenes involving quarantine and the overwhelmed medical workers attempting to care for arriving immigrants. When Breanna and Dawson search for news of her family, they encounter a doctor struggling to cope with the sheer scale of illness and suffering surrounding the fever ships. These scenes reinforce the devastating human cost of the famine migration and provide some of the novel’s most emotionally powerful moments.
The novel also touches upon the economic realities underpinning forced emigration during the famine years. Breanna’s passage to Canada is paid for by her father’s landlord because he wishes to clear the family from the land so it may be converted for sheep grazing. Brown incorporates this historical reality naturally into the narrative, highlighting how displacement during the famine was often driven as much by economic interests as by starvation itself.
The supporting cast adds warmth and texture to the narrative. Charlie O’Connor, in particular, brings humour and energy to the story, whilst his friendship with Dawson strengthens the novel’s sense of community and loyalty. The scenes surrounding Charlie’s brutal bare-knuckle fight with King Louis introduce a rougher side to life in Gaspé, where gambling, violence, and pride exist alongside everyday survival. Although King Louis initially appears brutal and dishonourable, Brown allows brief glimpses of complexity even within smaller secondary characters, preventing them from feeling entirely one-dimensional.
Captain Boothe serves as an effective source of tension throughout the novel. As an immigration officer, he embodies the imbalance of power faced by vulnerable newcomers arriving in Canada during this period. His treatment of Breanna is unsettling precisely because it feels plausible. Brown uses his character to explore how authority can easily be abused when dealing with displaced people who possess little protection or social standing.
Rich in atmosphere and grounded in emotionally believable characters, “What the Ocean Brings” is a thoughtful and moving work of historical romance. Brown combines the harsh realities of famine migration with an ultimately hopeful exploration of resilience, belonging, and emotional healing. Through Breanna and Dawson’s journey, the novel examines not only survival, but also the fragile process of rebuilding a life after profound loss.
Review by Mary Anne Yare
The Coffee Pot Book Club
Tonya is a writer who loves ancient, medieval and early modern British history. She has a particular interest in anything to do with Scotland, and you will find that influences a lot of what she writes about. She enjoys writing historical fiction, and also blogs about historical figures, places and customs, mainly focusing on 16th century Europe. She's not above throwing some American history in every now and then as well.
She holds a Master's degree in Teaching and is an elementary school teacher. Writing fills a good bit of her time when she is not at school or running her boys to a marching band event or some other activity.
Tonya lived in Minsk, Belarus when she was younger and taught English as a second language. Having even less aptitude for reading Russian than she had for speaking it, she took to looking up topics on her Encarta CD-ROM to read, since going to the library was not an option. Her topics of study? The U.S. presidents and the kings and queens of England. Tonya attributes this time of study to the beginning of her love for British history, but she didn't realize her love for writing until many years later.
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