Wanda Lowe

Wanda, the titular "light pirate" of the novel, is born in the midst of a hurricane that bears the same name and is gifted with strange powers as a result. She is able to produce bioluminescence in the water and has a profound connection to the land and water around her hometown of Rudder, Florida. Headstrong, inquisitive, and individualistic, Wanda often leans on her natural connection with her surroundings and her intense survivalist training with a local woman, Phyllis, as a means of surviving the ravages of climate change.

As a young woman, Wanda struggles to form deep emotional connections with other children in Rudder, in large part because she is regularly mistreated and ostracized as a result of her association with the devastating Hurricane Wanda. She has close, loving relationships with her family members, but is ultimately forced to abandon or move past those relationships as...