Tamara Valentine's debut novel, "What the Waves Know," is about Izabella Haywood, who stopped speaking on her 6th birthday when her father mysteriously disappeared. Years later, in a final and desperate move, Iz's mother returns with her daughter to tiny Tillings Island off the coast of Rhode Island — site of the original traumatic event — to attend the annual Yemaya Festival honoring maternal ties and the connection between humans and the sea.

Advance reviews have been very positive and intriguing. Kirkus, for example, called the novel a "dreamy coming-of-age mystery (that) unfolds in tantalizing waves with keen insight and lush prose."

Valentine, who lives in Kingston, R.I., and is an English professor at Johnson & Wales University, will read from, discuss and sign copies of "What the Waves Know" at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Artists' Cooperative Gallery in Westerly.

Tamara Valentine, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Artists' Cooperative Gallery, 7 Canal St., Westerly; free; (860) 536-3795.