In 1919 Spain, Catalina Quintana is the eldest daughter in a family of silkworm farmers on the tiny island of La Palma in the remote Canary Islands. Fiercely independent, Catalina dreams of building a life with her childhood love. But when a devastating fire ruins her family’s silkworm farm, she’s forced into a loveless marriage and a journey across the sea to Cuba aboard a doomed ocean liner.
     A century later, in 2019, journalist Mara Denis travels to La Palma to cover a modern-day disaster near the island. But the trip becomes personal when her mother asks her to find a long-lost birth certificate. Long haunted by the sea and plagued by dreams of a daughter she’s never had, Mara begins to uncover a hidden family history that centers on Catalina, her great-grandmother who, she soon discovers, is listed among the dead in the infamous Valbanera shipwreck. As Mara follows Catalina’s trail across Spain, Cuba, and Key West, she unearths a story of forbidden love and resilience that echoes through six generations.
     Told in a dual narrative that moves seamlessly between past and present, Deeper than the Ocean is a meditation on the strength of women, the enduring power of a mother’s love, and the corrosive hold of family secrets across oceans and time.

This sweeping novel is perfect for fans of Isabel Allende, Julia Alvarez, and Kristin Hannah.

Twitter @MirtaOjito

Having escaped with his family to Western Sydney in the 1970s from a military dictatorship in Uruguay, Juan is in his seventies and a widower. He misses his wife, does not know how to be alone and has become dependent on his daughters, particularly Lola, who lives closest. Lola has her own battles living with an anxiety disorder and in her difficult relationship with her Uruguayan husband and two sons. Unlike Lola, her younger sister, Betty has abandoned her Uruguayan roots and is living an alternative lifestyle in Mullumbimby. A third daughter, Malena is living in Italy with her husband. Fed up with Juan’s dependence, particularly on Lola, Betty decides to place a personal ad in a Spanish paper on his behalf without asking him, hoping that a new partner may help him to move beyond his grief and dependency. Instead, he finds new love walking his dog, a widowed Aboriginal lady, Frances. Their blossoming relationship becomes a trigger for Juan, Lola and Betty to recalibrate how they measure their belonging across cultures.

Alejandra Martinez is an Australian-Uruguayan writer. Her stories have been published in a range of anthologies and magazines, including Best Australian Stories (Black Inc), Girls Talk and Puentes Review. 

Her writing explores migration, diversity and universal themes of identity, loss, ageing, mental health, and resilience. She was the winner of the 2022 Newcastle Writers Festival Fresh Ink Emerging Writer Prize. Her debut novel, Salsa in the Suburbs, was published in 2025 by Puncher and Wattmann and was the first Australian mainstream novel by an Australian-Uruguayan author.

Website: alejandramartinez.com.au/books

Facebook: @Alejandra-Martinez-61575496142581

Twitter @alejandramartinez.author