Ultramarine

Ultramarine is a hypnotic novel set aboard a cargo ship crossing the Atlantic, captained by a woman who has always kept control through quiet authority and distance. One day, she does something unexpected. She stops the ship and allows the crew to swim in the open sea. When they return, they count one extra man.

What follows is a slow unraveling. Instruments begin to malfunction. The ship enters a fog. The line between the real and the imagined starts to blur. As the voyage continues, the captain confronts memories, grief, and the deeper questions of identity and responsibility.

Mariette Navarro’s writing is lyrical and restrained, rich with atmosphere and quiet tension. The sea becomes both a setting and a state of mind—vast, unknowable, and full of ghosts. Translated with poetic clarity by Elyse Hill-Agnus, Ultramarine explores the limits of authority, the mystery of collective experience, and the strange transformations that happen when we surrender to the unknown.

This is a novel that resists easy answers and rewards close attention. A meditation on solitude, command, and the fluid nature of self, Ultramarine leaves a deep and lasting impression.