Deeper Than the Ocean

Happy release day to Deeper Than the Ocean by Mirta Ojito! Set between the Canary Islands and Cuba, this novel follows multiple generations of women affected by love, loss, and a fractured sense of belonging.

What I Liked:

• Getting to know the Canary Islands. I love books set throughout Spain, but this is the first one to take me to the Canary Islands, off the coast of northwestern Africa. These seven islands are characterized by unique weather patterns and a mixture of migrants from Spain and northern Africa. I enjoyed getting to learn about this unique area and how people around the turn of the 20th century made a life there… or dreamed of traveling to Cuba.
• Motherhood and family ties. One of the major themes throughout this novel is the relationship between mothers and their children. In the 1910s and onward, Catalina is the main protagonist, and she experiences passionate love, motherhood, and much loss. What is her relationship with her children like? How does that impact future generations within her family tree? Where does that leave Mara in 2019?
• Sense of place and identity. When Catalina moves from the Canary Islands to Cuba (an eventful and traumatic move in itself), it also unearths her sense of belonging. This is compounded years later when Mara and her parents leave Cuba to make a new life in the United States. Now in her 50s, Mara has moved once again, this time to Spain. Where do she and her mother ultimately belong? Where are their family roots hidden?
• Uncovering generational trauma. Another inherited trait is Mara’s deep fear of the water. Intergenerational trauma is real, and in Mara’s case, it stems from the mysteries behind her great-grandmother Catalina. Learning the truth from so many decades ago may be the only way to heal.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• So many tragedies! This novel starts off with a profound sense of family and loss, and then there is a forbidden romance. But once Catalina boards the ship to Cuba, there is so much tragedy that she suffers. It can make for a heavy read, especially in the latter half of the book.

Audiobook:

Kim Ramirez does a beautiful job of narrating Deeper Than the Ocean. Her voice is gentle yet absorbing, making for an entrancing listen.

Final Thoughts

Deeper Than the Ocean is moving novel about family, love, loss, and identity. From the late 1800s through 2019, it follows multiple generations as they relocate and start over, again and again. I truly enjoyed this novel and hope to read more from Mirta Ojito.

Special thanks to Union Square & Co., HarperCollins Audio Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Deeper Than the Ocean here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Deeper Than the Ocean by Mirta Ojito
Audiobook Narrator	Kim Ramirez
Audience	Adult
Genre	Historical Fiction; Contemporary Fiction
Setting	Spain (Canary Islands and Santander); Cuba
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	November 4, 2025
Publisher	Union Square & Co.

Official Summary

A moving multigenerational novel about the enduring power of a mother’s love, the ripple effect of secrets, and the strength of family bonds from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

One hundred years after the shipwreck of the Valbanera, known to history as the “poor man’s Titanic,” Mara Denis gets an assignment to report on the Canary Islands, where her ancestors lived before they moved to Cuba. Unexpectedly, she discovers that the grandmother her mother cherished was listed among the dead of the Valbanera, years before Mara’s mother was even born. This fateful twist changes everything Mara thought she knew about her family and herself, and sends her on a quest to find the truth. If her great grandmother is a ghost, who is she and where did she come from?    

In spare, beautiful writing, the author transports the reader to the Canary Islands and Cuba in the early part of the twentieth century and New York and Key West in the present. This is an epic tale of a young woman’s passion for her beloved, as well as the redeeming power of family secrets at last uncovered.

This moving, sweeping novel is perfect for fans of Isabel Allende, Julia Alvarez, and Kristin Hannah.