An Ocean and a Day: A powerful and poignant memoir on grief, loss and hope by Hannah Richell

An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who’s ever lost someone they love.

An Ocean and a Day is Hannah Richell’s personal account of losing her husband, Matt, in a surfing accident on Tamarama beach in 2014. It is the story of the grief 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 offers some perspective and healing. As well as a beautiful, moving and utterly poignant love letter to her late husband, it is also a love letter to Australia, the country that stole her heart; the story of her journey into motherhood; and a testament to the healing power of creativity.

A riveting, moving and uplifting memoir of love and pain, grief and hope, An Ocean and a Day will resonate with anyone who’s ever lost someone they love. Offering solidarity to other broken hearts, this book is about how we face the hardest days of our lives – and its many gritty little pearls of insight and hard-won wisdom will spark conversations about how we confront, discuss and process the very real, very human experience of loss in our modern, often secular age. Intimate, powerful and profound, An Ocean and a Day will join the canon of those classic memoirs of loss and abrupt, unwanted life changes such as Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, Amy Bloom’s In Love and Geraldine Brooks’s Memorial Days.

‘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

About the Author: Before becoming a published writer, Hannah Richell worked in the book publishing and film industries in London and Sydney. She is the author of six international bestsellers, including Secrets of the Tides, The Search Party and One Dark Night. Her work has been translated into twenty-one languages. Hannah is a dual citizen of Great Britain and Australia and currently lives near Bath the southwest of England. An Ocean and a Day is her first work of non-fiction.

30 Jun 2026
 

An Ocean and a Day: A powerful and poignant memoir on grief, loss and hope, from the internationally bestselling author of The Search Party by Hannah Richell ISBN 9781460768761