In the near future, the residents of a small Australian coastal town awake to find that the ocean has disappeared, the shoreline has receded to the horizon, and the land is littered with decaying corpses of marine life. They are confused, their pet dogs are hysterical and they wonder about the impact it will have on their community.

Central to this story is a young woman named Sam, who we first meet as a child living in the town with her mother, Ivy. For years Sam has been afflicted by crippling migraines that are accompanied by visions of the future, including the disappearance of the sea. Desperate to find a cause for the migraines, Ivy carts her daughter to all kinds of specialists, some of whom diagnose psychological problems. But one suggests dyschronia, a condition that skews a person’s perception of time.

Sam has a number of visions about various events as she moves into adulthood, including suicides, accidents, a major flood and the demise of the town’s only industry. It’s not clear if she is psychic or just a very convincing liar. And amid all of this her small community is decaying and dying as people move away to seek work or succumb to their fear of the disappearance of the sea. A mysterious corporation promises renewal and regeneration, but each new year brings nothing but confusion and dwindling hope.

This could have been a wonderful book; I really wanted to like it. But the narrative chops and changes between Sam’s childhood and her adult life, and this lack of continuity is jarring. Relationships are introduced but never really investigated, including that between Sam and her mother, which is clearly dysfunctional. And behind it all is the corporation, which is considering new ways to use the land and crumbling infrastructure, but its stream of bureaucratic correspondence that promises new directions is confusing for both the locals and the reader. I wondered what it was all about.

Reviewed by Lesley West