Michelle St. Romain

Released in April 2026

Song of Belonging

"Protect what you love.
Create what you desire."

“Song of Belonging is a spellbinding novel in which voices of the past whisper secrets, love blooms in the present, and hope for the future is restored. Like ocean ripples washing over pebbles, Michelle St. Romain’s lyrical prose enchants and captivates as it sings of love, longing, and hope for the future of our oceans and ourselves.”

“Song of Belonging marks poet Michelle St. Romain’s luminous turn to prose, weaving a haunting story of family, memory, and the quiet power of women’s lives. Rich with atmosphere and lyric grace, Song of Belonging will captivate readers who cherish stories of family, mystery, and the binding magic of ancestral ties. Fans of The Book of Speculation and Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe will find themselves right at home in St. Romain’s evocative, soul-deep debut novel.”

"Song of Belonging is as lyrical as its title suggests, flowing rhythmically as it explores the links between people and place across generations. As human beings, we all share an innate need to connect and belong, and Michelle St. Romain pens a compelling journey of connection and identity across past and future, inspiring purpose, healing and vital connection to the natural world."

"A hauntingly beautiful debut, weaving past and present in a seamless story of love, loss, redemption, and belonging. Highly recommended."

“Song of Belonging is a masterful exploration of connection — to nature, to our ancestors, to ourselves. The characters are revealed like slowly opening flowers, with layers of complexity unfolding through generations with heartbreaking beauty. This is storytelling at its finest: grounded yet transcendent, personal yet universal. A profound meditation on what it means to heed the call of both our lineage and our planet.”

"Intriguingly captivating. From a maternal line of women who are caretakers of the water, Song of Belonging’s haunting dual narrative unfolds themes of ancestral wisdom, grief, and the potent revelatory power of trusting the unknown."

“Set along the rivers of Louisiana and the rocky California coast, Song of Belonging contains multitudes. A beautiful story of spiritual renewal and our connection to the past and the future, the natural world, and all the threads of the universe.”

“Seamlessly weaving the past and the present, Song of Belonging creates a fully believable world where the voices of the grandmothers speak, magic happens, romance flourishes, and nature conquers. Readers will be enthralled all the way to the end with this compelling love story and with the struggle to save the planet by honoring the wisdom passed down through generations.”

“Song of Belonging takes the reader on a magical journey. The connections between ocean cultures - from Louisiana to California and from Hawaii to Ireland - create an evocative backdrop to Alice’s story. She learns to be brave in the face of her destiny, leading her to find her inner compass as she unravels the stories of her grandmothers and others in her family.”

"This novel is a tender, poetic examination of the precious gifts passed down in a matrilineal line. They are mysterious and powerful legacies, to be honored and cherished."

“In the way that Willa Cather captures the soul of the prairie, Michelle St. Romain captures the soul of the sea—from the New Orleans bayous to the Pacific Ocean. Aptly titled, the prose in Song of Belonging is lyrical and rhythmic. A double-timeline narrative with historical and contemporary stories, this book reminds that if you take action, you can be part of saving our beautiful planet.”

“Michelle Wilson’s writing is exquisite, achieving a delicate balance between poetry and women’s fiction. This enchanting story about family gifts and secrets that are revealed like the tide being pulled back by the moon will have you charmed from the very first page. ”

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Michelle St. Romain is a writer, poet and educator. In addition to writing and teaching, she works in the nonprofit field raising funds and awareness for issues close to her heart. Song of Belonging is her debut novel and began as an idea in her mind when she was seven years old and her great-grandmother gave her a green jewelry box when she died. Michelle grew up in Louisiana surrounded by siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and the novel combines Michelle’s love of the environment and the natural world with stories from her French Acadian heritage.

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