Hannah Richell: An Ocean and a Day

Join Hannah Richell in conversation with Vashti Whitfield as they discuss Richell's book 'An Ocean and a Day'.

WHEN: Tuesday, 21st of July 2026, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore. Please arrive at 6:45pm for a prompt 7 pm start. The event concludes at 8:30pm. after the book signing.

TICKETS: 

Admission: $25.00 (excluding external fees). Includes admission for one to the event and wine (or beverage) upon arrival.

Admission + Book: $55.00 (excluding external fees). Includes admission for one to the event and a copy of An Ocean and a Day (RRP: $34.99), and wine (or beverage) upon arrival.

An utterly riveting, moving and poignant memoir of grief and loss that will speak to anyone who's ever lost someone they love, from the internationally bestselling author of The Search Party.

In 2014, author Hannah Richell was living a happy and fulfilled life in Sydney. Married, with two young children, she was in the middle of writing her new novel when the police knocked at her door to tell her that her husband, Matt, had been killed in a surfing accident at Tamarama beach. An Ocean and a Day is the riveting, intimate and poignant story of the journey she travelled over the first two years of loss, but it is also, more uniquely, an account of what happens beyond those early years, when time and distance offer perspective and hope.

Life-affirming and illuminating, An Ocean and a Day is a book about love and loss, marriage and mothering, healing and hope, and how we face the hardest days of our lives. It is a book that will make you draw your loved ones close, and maybe even leave you a little transformed.

'A searing reflection on the fragility of life which never loses sight of the miraculous beauty of being alive.' - Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day

About the Author:

Before becoming a published writer, Hannah Richell worked in the book publishing and film industries in London and Sydney. She is the author of six international bestsellers, including Secrets of the Tides, The Search Party and One Dark Night. Her work has been translated into twenty-one languages. Hannah is a dual citizen of Great Britain and Australia and currently lives near Bath the southwest of England. An Ocean and a Day is her first work of non-fiction.

About the Host:

Vashti Whitfield was raised by a curious, rebellious teacher whose need for freedom and wider horizons carried the family barefoot along the 1970s hippy trail through India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and to the foothills of the Himalayas, alongside a photographer father who captured what could not be spoken. Story became the way she made sense of unfamiliar places and the people within them. Her own story has lived in both book and documentary form, and she now mentors others navigating life, death, identity and the human experience.

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some homemade chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.

'So much love in every beautiful word. My heart hurt so much and yet I could not look away. The writing is vital and filled with so much sorrow and so much love. Sublime.' - Favel Parrett, There Was Still Love