The Weight of a Thousand Oceans
Jillian Webster
Self-Published
Pub. 2020

September 02, 2021

The Weight of a Thousand Oceans by Jillian Webster is a beautiful and heart-wrenching story about a young woman named Maia. She feels trapped and like there is more in the world than what she can see in front of her.

The world Maia lives in is a terrible place left behind by the men and women of the past. The earth is polluted and overheated with high water levels. There is almost no visible land and the human population is nearly non-existent. There are so few people that everyone knows each other by first name on the North Island of New Zealand, where Maia grew up. She is determined to leave.

Maia loves to read, learn and explore new things. She lives in an isolated hut with her grandfather, who wishes for her to find a man, have babies and stay safe and away from anything new or ‘dangerous’.

But Maia doesn’t want to settle down: she wants to leave and discover who she is. She wants to travel the world, and it’s only just before her grandfather passes away that he gives her his blessing to go.

Maia stows away on a ship, where she must stay hidden from everyone. If she is seen, she will be killed on sight, or worse. Things start to look pretty bad for Maia: she is starving to death, bored and depressed, and it’s only when one of the workers on the ship discovers her that things start to look up.

The worker’s name is Lucas, and instead of killing her or throwing her overboard, he shows her kindness. He gets her food and helps to get her weight up, he provides her with blankets to keep warm and even risks his life to save her when another worker discovers her.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Weight of a Thousand Oceans and it kept me wanting more. The most interesting and unexpected things happened after turning one page. I could not put this book down; I just had to keep reading, which is why I’m glad that this book is a part of a series. I will be hunting down the second book to read.

Maia can be considered an excellent role model for anyone who reads this book. She shows determination and courage through everything she does and plans to do. I would recommend this book to teenagers who like adventure, a little bit of romance and a book where you never know what is about to happen. Jillian Webster portrays Maia as a strong-minded and determined woman who will stop at nothing to make her dreams come true.

• Caitlin Fuldseth is 16 and lives in Palmerston North