I'm going to try this again, does anyone know what this book from my childhood is?

[ElloKip]

I've tried a few times over the years.

I had 2 books I remember vividly, The Whales Song is one of them and the 2nd was the same kind of book, large pages and illustrations.

What I remember:

There was a girl, possibly 2 children who are by the sea.

They go out at night and the tide is pulled right back and it reveals a lost city.

There may be a seashell involved in calling her to the city (though very vague on that)

She goes and explores the city but the tide starts to come back in and if she gets trapped she will be there forever?

There may have been people that were turned to statues?

I remember the horror of her trying to outrun the sea

I'm sure it's a kids books with big pictures though.

This has bugged me for about 25 YEARS!

Does anyone have any idea what I am on about?

I've just spent 45 mins googling again in the hope I will find something. Nope.

Maybe I made it up??

The Ocean at the end of the Lane?

Sorry, no.
That was written in 2013 and I must have read it between 1992 and 1998 maybe?

And that's a novel, this was more of a big floppy/story picture book

Them?
With a character called Mark?

The Sea Swallow

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sea-Swallow-Gareth-Thompson/dp/0954088026

If you can’t find it then please write it, it sounds good!

It’s not Water Babies, is it?

I found this story on YouTube. Is it the one?

m.youtube.com/watch?v=pOU4jzLoLm0

Is 'the girl who fell beneath the sea?'

The tide knot by Helen Dunmore? It's set in Cornwall and is a girl called Sapphire and her brother Connor exploring the underwater world of Ingo

The Secret of the Tides by Grahame Corbett, published in 1982?

@lilacluna such a great book

Is it Wet Magic by E Nesbit? Written much much earlier than the dates you give but the plot sounds somewhat similar.

I had Whale Song. Think I've still got it on my shelf in my childhood bedroom.

I used to read whale song to my children and absolutely loved it. The pictures are wonderful. I'd love to know the name of this book too.

The sea shell girl by Linda Finlay

That was the first thing that popped into my head.

Thanks for all the suggestions but none of these, though I can't find the Graham Corbett book

It was not a novel, like water babies but a picture book like this.

To echo a pp, I think you should write it! The ‘outrunning the sea’ is a particularly strong image…

Have you tried asking Chat GPT? I have tried but I don't think it's any of the ones that have come up. You may have more info you can feed it though?

I’d suggest you put Whalesong into Amazon. Go down to the suggestions at the bottom and scroll through. See if the algorithms lead you to your book