The sea, I always come back to you is a book about a place where one can feel at home, feel oneself, a place to daydream to when the world is knocking on the door or thoughts become too large. A place in which to be filled with joy and happiness, and just be. It is also the story of a mother-daughter relationship, from childhood to adulthood.

Many of us have a place that is ours, maybe it's only in our minds and we can imagine ourselves there, or it's a place that, when we get there, we can just be. For Anna Fiske, it is the sea, the sea in Scania. In this memoir, she revolves in text and drawing around the landscape of her childhood in Scania, the sea, and her mother, to whom she says goodbye.

In this autobiographical picture book, Fiske continues to tell the story of her life, as she did in "Trees I have known" from 2017. In these picture books' interplay between memories in drawings and poetic texts, Anna Fiske has created her own genre.

In this autobiographical picture book, Fiske continues to tell the story of her life, as she did in "Trees I have known" from 2017. In these picture books' interplay between memories in drawings and poetic texts, Anna Fiske has created her own genre. (…) After nearly 25 years and three times as many publications, Swedish Anna Fiske must be considered a Norwegian national treasure. ... It is a mercilessly beautiful meditation on grief.
DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

This book is a declaration of love to the sea. The relationship to the sea is easy and uncomplicated, while the relation to the family is more complex, vulnerable and in change. [The author] leaves the reader with the sense that all humans are a little bit alone in their lives, no matter what pack or heard they have surrounded themselves with, and that the safest element is the surrounding nature. … an intimate depiction of the natural separation that must come between mother and child in a time and a narrative that underlines how it may be impossible to completely succeed at parenting. Some cuts are bound to happen.
NUMER, MAGAZINE FOR DRAWING, ILLUSTRATIONS AND ART BOOKS

The symbolism between sea and motherhood / symbiosis / separation works well in this tender narrative, where black and blue types follow slightly different thematical storylines. The black pertains to the sea and its creatures, the blue to memories from childhood. (…)

The visual expression – black pen and aquarelle – is balanced, like the text, between levity and heaviness, the fun and the sad. (…) This book is a visual joy!
MAYA TROBERG DJUVE, SANS FOR BOK