Missing at Ship’s Haven
A teen author explores friendship, loss and determination in a coastal mystery centred on a missing girl.
June 16th, 2026
Johanna Goldenberg is an emerging writer from British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast.
Johanna Goldenberg is a young writer with a deep love for storytelling and literature. She was born in Jørlunde, Denmark and now lives on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia with her parents, dog and two cats. The Sharp Edge of Seashells (self-published $16.99) is her first published work. When she isn’t writing, she can be found journaling, listening to music or playing video games-sometimes all at once. She hopes this book will bring comfort to those who feel out of place in the world and inspire other young writers to follow their creativity wherever it leads.
Review by Cathalynn Labonté-Smith
It’s been a harried morning, in the Labonté-Smith household in Gibsons. My partner, Stephen, a volunteer with Sunshine Coast Ground Search and Rescue has been called out on a search for a missing female teenager. His first task is as radio dispatcher for the mission as the team gets the mission command centre set up. For minors, all available resources are mobilized. The RCMP are already off to a judge to get a warrant to check the video footage at the BC Ferry terminal to see if the subject has hopped the ferry for Vancouver.
The missing teen’s family posted a plea for the public to assist in the search with their daughter’s photo on social media. The subject looks like she could be one of my nieces, or even like the author of this book being reviewed at first glance—Caucasian; long, straight hair; an oval face.
This scenario parallels the story of Johanna Goldenberg’s novella, The Sharp Edge of Seashells. Cassandra’s BFF, Seph, has gone missing. While the adults go about the organized, formal grid search for twelve year old, Seph, Cassandra and her cousin, Sisyphus, conduct their own haphazard search, oblivious to the world of grown-ups.
As an aunt to nine former teenagers, I’m aware that most teen runaways have had an argument with their parents and are hiding out at one or many of their friends’ to cool off for a day or two. But if they can’t be traced by their phone that’s melded into their palm, it’s a red flashing flag when a teen goes missing in the middle of the night and that’s the scary facts of Seph’s disappearance.
Set in the fictional village of Ship’s Haven, a tiny closely-knit community exactly like Gibsons, or like many of other villages dotted along Highway 101 on the Sunshine Coast, Cassandra, also twelve years-old searches for her lost twin flame.
Eighteen year old author Goldenberg writes well beyond her years, for her Young Adult readers, describing Ship’s Haven as:
[On the coast of Ship’s Haven, children are born with salt water in their veins, and stars in their eyes.]
At the centre of the town are the nice houses, each one with a balcony, some with picket fences surrounding lush green gardens. They are in small clusters, a good number of them sitting empty all year, used only as vacation homes in the summer. Then there are the restaurants where people line up for hours outside for a table, all built for a smaller population than what the town has become and half a dozen overpriced gift shops that litter the street overlooking the sea, selling sea glass necklaces and china tea sets. Most of the commercial fishing vessels have been replaced by sailboats, private yachts and whale watching tour boats, but in the harbour and surrounding area the smell of salmon rotting in the sun still lingers even now that the town’s economy is no longer held afloat by tobacco-chewing fishermen. (Johanna Goldenberg, The Sharp Edge of Seashells, p.1)
“Seph,” short for Persephone, likely taken from the iconic boat of the Beachcombers series, who appears to be on the autism spectrum (the school principal calls her “special”), runs away without her go bag. Cassandra finds the go bag sitting in Seph’s bedroom closet. The authorities didn’t do a thorough job of searching her room, if Cassandra found Seph’s duffel bag containing Seph’s diary that may contain important clues to her disappearance.
As adults, we know the rising feelings of sheer terror and panic when a little one disappears, even if they’re a stranger’s child. We’re naturally empathetic and eager to assist in the search. Amber alerts get adults vigilantly looking out for vehicles and suspects and they actually work to bring searches to quick and happy outcomes. But Goldenberg reveals the concerns and observations of peers of missing children that are valuable and heart-rending.
In some Search and Rescue units in the United States, junior members are part of the program because they notice signs that adult SAR volunteers don’t, because they don’t have preconceived ideas of what to look for. Cassandra has intuitive feelings about what’s happened to her friend:
Cassandra simply knows that Seph is okay. She’s not in Ship’s Haven, despite the search parties that seem convinced she’s still in town. Cassandra can’t feel her here, but she’s alive.
But then the feeling vanishes, leaving her confused and unsure. She can’t know that. No one can know that. The police don’t seem to think someone took her. But if Seph were to run away, which it honestly seems like she has, why wouldn’t she take Cassandra with her? How could she be so selfish? How could she leave her best friend all alone here ? (Goldenberg, p. 18).
Cassandra gets so wrapped up in looking for her friend, she puts herself at risk.
“You weren’t here when we got home,” her mother says, standing up. “Have you been gone all night? Where have you been? Do you know how worried we’ve been? We thought you were missing, too! We were about to call the police!” (Goldenberg, p. 54.)
No spoilers here, so read the book to find out what happens to the girls. This book is suitable for tweens, teens and adults, young and not so young. Don’t riffle past the author’s notes at the end of the story, or you’ll miss the twist.
P.S.: My husband finished his task as a radio dispatcher and joined the search for the teenager. She was found by a SAR volunteer, despite trying to hide from detection. She was speedily returned to the safety of her family after spending a cold night out in the woods. Thankfully, she met with no harm like many a runaway before her.
Cathalynn Cindy Labonté-Smith taught English, Journalism and other subjects at Vancouver high schools. She currently lives in Gibsons (and North Vancouver), BC, where she founded the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society. She has a new book, I’m Not A Mormon (Anymore), to be released in Fall 2026 and available for preorder from Caitlin Press or Amazon.ca.
Leave a Reply