How can you be with someone else when you can’t even be with yourself?
Melanie McQuaid has a five-year plan. And it doesn’t include love or fun. Richard Blake seems set on self- destruction. There’s a spark between them, though they have nothing in common.
Then their lives are transformed.
Disillusioned from a broken engagement, and pushed to her limits at her stressful arts centre job, Melanie embarks on a life-changing trip to the Norwegian fjords. Meanwhile, hard-drinking, womanising journalist, Richard Blake is furious at his latest assignment. He finds himself alone at sea reporting on Greenpeace’s anti-whaling campaign at a time when he most needs to be at home.
On opposite sides of the world, Melanie and Richard each look into the eye of a whale – a magical experience which brings them back together. But can the timing ever be right for Richard and Melanie?
The author donates half of the royalties from Look into the Eye to organisations dedicated to the protection and conservation of whales and dolphins around the world, and to youth mental health charities in Ireland.
Praise for Look into the Eye
“This is an exceptional debut novel, stirring, funny and eloquent. Barrett writes passionately about whales, intertwines her own experiences with those of her characters and brings a satisfactory conclusion to a story and a theme that is pertinent . . .”
“Touching Story of the Sea: What began as a soul-searching travel article following a visit by Barrett to the Norwegian fjords has resulted in this charming and heartfelt tale about the impact of an encounter with the ocean’s mightiest creatures on two troubled lives.”
“Like the two main characters in this unconventional story, I’ve had the experience of looking a whale in the eye from close range, and like both of them I found it a transformational experience – something I’ve rarely seen described adequately in print and which Look into the Eye does admirably.”
“An absorbing contemporary love story. Meaningful, and heartfelt.”