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Blue Mar
In the not-so-distant future, two sisters must navigate a world that is unraveling due to climate change. Wildfires blot out the sky, coastlines are being washed away by rising seas, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been geo-engineered into an actual island called Blue Mar. When Laurel and Paloma visit their Great-Aunt in El Salvador, they find that things are far worse than in the U.S., so bad that many people are moving to Blue Mar to start a new life. As they search for their identity and their place in the world, Laurel and Paloma must decide whether to go to Blue Mar themselves, or whether to stay, reconnect with their culture, and fight to save the land of their ancestors.
280 pages, Paperback
Published March 16, 2021
45 people want to read
About the author
Francesca G. Varela
5 books29 followersFrancesca G. Varela was raised in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. In 2015 she graduated from the University of Oregon with degrees in Environmental Studies and Creative Writing, and in 2018 she received her master’s degree in Environmental Humanities from the University of Utah.
Francesca’s dream of becoming an author began in third grade, and her writing career had an early start; she wrote her award-winning first novel, Call of the Sun Child, when she was only 18 years old, and she wrote her second novel, Listen, when she was only 20.
When not writing or reading, Francesca enjoys playing piano, figure skating, hiking, identifying wild birds, plants, and constellations, and travelling to warm, sunny places whenever she can.
Francesca’s dream of becoming an author began in third grade, and her writing career had an early start; she wrote her award-winning first novel, Call of the Sun Child, when she was only 18 years old, and she wrote her second novel, Listen, when she was only 20.
When not writing or reading, Francesca enjoys playing piano, figure skating, hiking, identifying wild birds, plants, and constellations, and travelling to warm, sunny places whenever she can.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 11, 2020
I'd been looking forward to Varela's next book and was lucky enough to read an early copy. Blue Mar didn't disappoint, in fact I read the last half in one sitting because I couldn't put it down! Highly recommended.
December 26, 2025
Finding hope in hopeless situations
Blue Mar, by Francesca Varela, is a haunting and lyrical look at climate disruption, family bonds and hope.
It focuses on two sisters, Paloma and Laurel, who are on different paths in a world ravaged by climate issues. It’s like our world, only fast-forwarding a few decades to when things have gotten really bad. Laurel lives in California and works at a commercial slaughterhouse with her beloved uncle, who is resisting the call to use AI, robotics, and GMO beef. She has a nice enough boyfriend and a good enough life, despite the challenges of climate deterioration all around her. Paloma, her sister, is in Oregon attending medical school. Becoming a doctor will ensure she has a really good life, at least against the context of all the poverty, uncertainty and suffering around them, but she is having her doubts about this career path.
The sisters are half-El Salvadoran but look white, which adds an interesting layer of complexity as they wrestle with what it means to be a Latina, since they are so routinely perceived as white. Additionally, Laurel and Paloma have drifted apart — climate chaos can do that — but when Paloma comes home for the summer, they begin getting closer. That intensifies after a family tragedy and a fateful decision to go stay with an aunt in El Salvador for a while to learn more about their shared roots.
Against that already compelling backdrop, there is an evolving media story that intrigues the sisters, especially Laurel — the island of Blue Mar. A start-up tech company has figured out how to take plastic out of the oceans (which, sadly, have been wrecked by environmental neglect) and convert it into a floating island (Blue Mar), a new landmass for which they have grand plans to create a self-sustaining, luxury, gated community. When the money runs out, the project is abandoned, and the “island” is up for grabs. A group of eco-minded folks decides to try to claim it, terraforming it much like other humans are trying to do on Mars to create habitable spaces amid the slowly worsening climate crisis.
It's a great setup and I won’t give any spoilers, but I was deeply drawn into the lives of the sisters as they struggled to strengthen their bonds, find fulfillment and understand their roots, all while navigating a world on fire (literally and metaphorically).
It’s a real testament to Varela’s skills as a writer and storyteller that I became so quickly invested in the sisters' lives. The writing is lovely and often poetic:
“The ocean peeked through the trees, turquoise and enormous. For some reason, it spoke of loneliness — the water, and the dim, curving rainforest trees, with hairy vines hanging from their branches, and the sharp stones, there, beneath her feet, and the emptiness of the road, and the scattering of cardboard and chip wrappers in the drainage ditch.”
The book is a bit of a double gut-punch. First, because of the finely tuned emotional landscape and interior worlds of the two sisters. Second, because it so effectively “normalizes” the climate chaos in the world around them — the wildfires, drought, civil unrest, lack of social services, empty grocery store shelves and new diseases. And yet, as in today’s world, people mostly just continue, hoping things will get better — or at least hoping things don’t get worse.
Hope is the thread stitching the book together. Through it all, the ups and downs, the joys and the tragedies, the readers are drawn along by the hopes of the two sisters — the hope they can repair their relationship, the hope they can help repair the world, the hope they can find happiness and fulfillment, and hope for a brighter, bluer future.
Blue Mar is a powerful and moving book from a talented writer about difficult topics, and at the same time, it’s a cautionary tale about saving the environment, our relationships and ourselves. Humans are not particularly good about receiving and acting upon cautionary information, but I hope many people read this book, and the message resonates.
Blue Mar, by Francesca Varela, is a haunting and lyrical look at climate disruption, family bonds and hope.
It focuses on two sisters, Paloma and Laurel, who are on different paths in a world ravaged by climate issues. It’s like our world, only fast-forwarding a few decades to when things have gotten really bad. Laurel lives in California and works at a commercial slaughterhouse with her beloved uncle, who is resisting the call to use AI, robotics, and GMO beef. She has a nice enough boyfriend and a good enough life, despite the challenges of climate deterioration all around her. Paloma, her sister, is in Oregon attending medical school. Becoming a doctor will ensure she has a really good life, at least against the context of all the poverty, uncertainty and suffering around them, but she is having her doubts about this career path.
The sisters are half-El Salvadoran but look white, which adds an interesting layer of complexity as they wrestle with what it means to be a Latina, since they are so routinely perceived as white. Additionally, Laurel and Paloma have drifted apart — climate chaos can do that — but when Paloma comes home for the summer, they begin getting closer. That intensifies after a family tragedy and a fateful decision to go stay with an aunt in El Salvador for a while to learn more about their shared roots.
Against that already compelling backdrop, there is an evolving media story that intrigues the sisters, especially Laurel — the island of Blue Mar. A start-up tech company has figured out how to take plastic out of the oceans (which, sadly, have been wrecked by environmental neglect) and convert it into a floating island (Blue Mar), a new landmass for which they have grand plans to create a self-sustaining, luxury, gated community. When the money runs out, the project is abandoned, and the “island” is up for grabs. A group of eco-minded folks decides to try to claim it, terraforming it much like other humans are trying to do on Mars to create habitable spaces amid the slowly worsening climate crisis.
It's a great setup and I won’t give any spoilers, but I was deeply drawn into the lives of the sisters as they struggled to strengthen their bonds, find fulfillment and understand their roots, all while navigating a world on fire (literally and metaphorically).
It’s a real testament to Varela’s skills as a writer and storyteller that I became so quickly invested in the sisters' lives. The writing is lovely and often poetic:
“The ocean peeked through the trees, turquoise and enormous. For some reason, it spoke of loneliness — the water, and the dim, curving rainforest trees, with hairy vines hanging from their branches, and the sharp stones, there, beneath her feet, and the emptiness of the road, and the scattering of cardboard and chip wrappers in the drainage ditch.”
The book is a bit of a double gut-punch. First, because of the finely tuned emotional landscape and interior worlds of the two sisters. Second, because it so effectively “normalizes” the climate chaos in the world around them — the wildfires, drought, civil unrest, lack of social services, empty grocery store shelves and new diseases. And yet, as in today’s world, people mostly just continue, hoping things will get better — or at least hoping things don’t get worse.
Hope is the thread stitching the book together. Through it all, the ups and downs, the joys and the tragedies, the readers are drawn along by the hopes of the two sisters — the hope they can repair their relationship, the hope they can help repair the world, the hope they can find happiness and fulfillment, and hope for a brighter, bluer future.
Blue Mar is a powerful and moving book from a talented writer about difficult topics, and at the same time, it’s a cautionary tale about saving the environment, our relationships and ourselves. Humans are not particularly good about receiving and acting upon cautionary information, but I hope many people read this book, and the message resonates.
February 1, 2021
Blue Mar is a rare climate fiction novel, one woven through the emotional register of two sisters facing a world in crisis. Francesca Varela's writing is luminous and powerful, transporting readers to a not-so-distant future where the worries that plague our planet now have only been exacerbated by human greed and disbelief. The book feautures the kind of worldbuilding that is both ubiquitous and effortless, where readers are likely to forget they're reading a book with science fiction elements because they're so enraptured by the characters' stories. A powerful meditation on meaning and family set against the backdrop of a world racked by climate catastrophe. A work of climate fiction for our times.
June 22, 2022
A depressing view of the world in the near future. I think the author wants us all to stop eating meat, learn Spanish and take up gardening. But, according to the author, gardening with people over 40 is a lot of work! The story progresses quickly and lots of things weren't explained. The idea of a settlement on the garbage patch floating in the ocean is interesting, but that doesn't even enter the story until the last half of the book. Overall, it seems like the author is not hopeful about humanity's ability to solve the problems before us.
April 24, 2021
This is a dystopian novel with a twist. So what’s happened to all that garbage thrown into the ocean? Well, in the case of the Pacific, it’s been turned into an island and people are moving there to get away from even worse surroundings. Makes you think, doesn’t it? This is a novel about global warming and its consequences. Great idea for a debut novel. I expect to see this author more in the future since this book is great!
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA
September 17, 2021
I found an ARC of this book in a Little Free Library dated 03/16/2021. 3.5 stars, rounded up for the realness of it.
This novel hits a little too close to home but it feels right to sit with that discomfort. The characters are well written, the plot is utterly believable, the ending is suitable without being final (if that makes sense).
This novel hits a little too close to home but it feels right to sit with that discomfort. The characters are well written, the plot is utterly believable, the ending is suitable without being final (if that makes sense).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews