At Sea

A female driller takes charge of an isolated offshore oil rig with an entirely male crew in this propulsive literary debut about ambition, greed and the deadly consequences of ignoring Mother Nature. For readers of Greenwood and Wild Dark Shore.

When Zainab, an expert driller, is tasked with overseeing a high-stakes oil rig operation, she leaves behind her pregnant sister to embark on the most challenging assignment of her career. But there’s a catch. The rig is teetering on the edge of disaster, and as a woman, Zainab’s experience isn’t enough to convince the crew of hardened men that she has any place among them, let alone at the helm.

The sole woman on the rig, isolated at sea, Zainab is hypervigilant towards potential threats. But as she investigates the issues that have plagued the rig, she quickly grasps that an even more pressing danger may lie in the cold calculations that underpin the entire operation, placing profit before safety, sustainability and sense. When all her warnings are ignored, Zainab must race to prevent the looming catastrophe that threatens the rig, the lives of the crew and the very welfare of the sea before it’s too late.

Haunting, original, and as poetic as it is propulsive, At Sea is a taut and gripping novel about principle, prejudice, and the capitalist endeavors that overlook the concerns of women—and of Mother Nature herself.