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WINNER OF THE 2023 BMO WINTERSET AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE 2023 GOVERNOR GENERALS LITERARY AWARD FOR NONFICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 SCIENCE WRITERS AND COMMUNICATORS BOOK AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 LANE ANDERSON AWARD

From the heart of the Labrador Current to the furthest reaches of our global oceans Message in a Bottle conjures an exquisite diversity of marine life and warns of a central threat to its survival ocean plastic

The dovekie is a stocky seabird the size of a childs heart that spends its winters on the coast of Newfoundland thriving in one of the toughest climates on Earth The polar bear is an apex predator designed to persevere in the Arctics extreme conditions The North Atlantic right whale outweighs the humpback by more than twenty tons and feeds on enormous quantities of tiny plankton in northeastern waters before migrating south for the winter

In Message in a Bottle wildlife biologist and writer Holly Hogan brings to life the wonder of these creatures and many other birds fish and marine mammals she has encountered in her thirty years of ocean travel On these voyages Hogan has noticed a troubling pattern the constant presence of plastic in the form of adrift fishing gear ghost gear garbage and microplastics that create an invisible but pervasive smog in our oceans and threaten even the most seemingly resilient forms of sea life

Bringing together nature science and adventure writing Hogan shines a light on our plasticaddicted lifestyle offering an eyewitness account of its devastating effects on the marine environmentand highlighting international efforts to combat it With lyrical prose and a reverential eye for the majesty and fragility of our natural world Message in a Bottle is a clarion call to protect global oceans and the life they sustain including our own