A girl with the power to command the tides has her life changed when she secures a job serving a wealthy noble family–only to learn that the last person to fill her post mysteriously died–in this haunting and lush debut fantasy inspired by Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.

"Drew me into its current and refused to let go." –Rachel Griffin, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sun and the Starmaker

Corith Fraine is a Floodmouth – her words can control water. Yet for those born with her rare elemental ability, paths forward are few, and Corith is one of the lucky ones. She has spent most of her life in a prestigious magic institution, training to one day achieve the highest possible honor for a member of her kind: the chance to serve one of the hundred noble houses.

When Corith learns she’s secured a post working for House Shearwater, a reclusive noble family living on a wave-battered island, she thinks her hard work has paid off. Until she discovers that their previous Floodmouth – Corith’s closest friend – mysteriously died in their service. And Corith is her replacement.

To learn the truth of her best friend’s accident, Corith must unravel the dark conspiracies at the heart of Bower Island. Yet doing so will require contending with the island’s deadly tides and her enigmatic new employers – including the family’s brooding youngest son, Llir, who she finds herself equally drawn to and repelled by. With her loyalties pushed to the breaking point, these treacherous waters may well pull Corith under…