She used to go by the name Sea, now it’s Sienna. She used to love the blue of the ocean, the feel of the waves beneath her board . . . she used to love a lot of things but that was before. Before her mother left on a plane that would never return or even be found. 

Sienna’s mother Hope was lost somewhere over the Indian Ocean while trying to help those less fortunate on the other side of the world, and now it feels as though Sienna’s best friend has betrayed her in more ways than one.  The new Sienna has become distant from her father, friends, and even the boy who has always had her heart. However, her mother and father believed in making a difference and after the tsunami of 2004, her father simply cannot sit back and not help by offering his services in the area of psychiatry.  This time he surprises Sienna with a ticket to go with him in hopes that in her traveling and walking in her mother’s shoes, he might get his daughter back.

Terrified of flying and yet looking for a way out of the depression she has spiraled into since her mother’s unsolved death, Sienna finally agrees to fly to Indonesia to work with the orphaned children in a placed called Yogyakarta.  “Team Hope,” as they call themselves, journies to Indonesia with the goal of providing treatment to children orphaned during the tsunami.

Many of the children are still suffering with horrible PTSD syndrome and vivid nightmarish dreams of surging water—dreams that are actually quite similar to Sienna’s own, especially the nightmares of a certain teenage boy. This boy, named Deni, comes from Aceh and holds an instant attraction for her, the thrill of adventure in a foreign land, and most importantly a shared story of loss. Will Sienna find redemption in helping others through their pain? Will she ever be able to truly let another person into her heart without the fear of loss?

In Heidi R. Kling’s debut novel Sea, readers will be amazed at the power of one person to make a change in the world while also transforming personally. Kling has written a beautifully crafted story of love and loss based upon a real life disaster that took the lives of over two-hundred thousand individuals, creating thousands of orphaned children in its aftermath.  In Sea, Kling has penned an impressive first novel with a message that the past cannot be erased but there are ways to heal—love being the first.