author event: hannah richell
wednesday 15 july || 6pm
Join us to hear acclaimed novelist Hannah Richell discuss her new book, a powerful and poignant memoir on grief, loss and hope.
For readers of Geraldine Brooks’ Memorial Days, An Ocean and a Day is a life-affirming and illuminating book about love and loss, marriage and mothering, healing and hope, and how we face the hardest days of our lives. It is a book that will make you draw your loved ones close, and maybe even leave you a little transformed.
TICKETS $20 | BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL
An Ocean and a Day
Available 30 June 2026
An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who’s ever lost someone they love.
In 2014, author Hannah Richell was living a happy and fulfilled life in Sydney. Married, with two young children, she was in the middle of writing her new novel when the police knocked at her door to tell her that her husband, Matt, had been killed in a surfing accident at Tamarama beach. An Ocean and a Day is the riveting, intimate and poignant story of the journey she travelled over the first two years of loss, but it is also, more uniquely, an account of what happens beyond those early years, when time and distance offer perspective and hope.
Life-affirming and illuminating, An Ocean and a Day is a book about love and loss, marriage and mothering, healing and hope, and how we face the hardest days of our lives. It is a book that will make you draw your loved ones close, and maybe even leave you a little transformed.
PRAISE FOR AN OCEAN AND A DAY:
‘A searing reflection on the fragility of life which never loses sight of the miraculous beauty of being alive.’ Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day
‘So much love in every beautiful word. My heart hurt so much and yet I could not look away. The writing is vital and filled with so much sorrow and so much love. Sublime.’ Favel Parrett, There Was Still Love
‘Hannah Richell writes about grief and its aftermath with excoriating honesty and with exceptional beauty. A work of great tenderness, a celebration of love and of life. I loved it.’ Kathryn Heyman, Circle of Wonders
‘Raw, unflinching, tender, hopeful -Richell pulled me through her loss as if it were my own. This is grief writing at its very best.’ Emma Grey, The Last Love Note
‘Depth charges of emotion, and strength. Unputdownable’ Nikki Gemmell, Wing
‘Warmth, truth and wisdom live on every page of this beautiful and moving memoir about the loss of a wonderful and inspiring man … With measured candour, a delicate touch, and a careful eye for the telling detail, Hannah Richell achieves what only the very best memoir can: she holds a space in which the reader can meet themselves. As you read, you realise that this profoundly generous book tells the deeper story of all our lives. It will leave you feeling more human.’ Chris Cleave, Everyone Brave is Forgiven
‘I love this book. So moving. So precise. Hannah has put her broken heart on the page so beautifully and I think it will help a lot of people.’ – Cathy Rentzenbrink How to Feel Better
about the author
Hannah Richell is the bestselling author of One Dark Night, The Search Party, Secrets of the Tides, The Shadow Year, and The Peacock Summer. Her books have been translated into seventeen languages.
Hannah has a background in book and film marketing and has worked in both the UK and Australia on a range of popular entertainment brands. She has also written for media outlets such as Harper’s Bazaar, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Fairfax and the Independent.
Hannah was born in Kent and spent her childhood years in the UK and Canada. She is a dual citizen of Great Britain and Australia and currently lives in the South West of England with her family.