The Boy from the Sea

Incredibly moving, witty and warm, The Boy from the Sea is a story of a family and a town, and what difference the arrival of one child can make. For fans of Kate Atkinson, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Keegan and Jon McGregor.

''Compassionate, lyrical and full of devilment'' - Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses ''Beautifully written - gorgeous modern folklore'' - Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater ''A novel of heart-bumping power and sparkling vividness . . . breathtaking'' - Joseph O''Connor, author of Star of the Sea ''I was gripped'' - Emma Donoghue 1973. In a close-knit fishing community on Ireland''s west coast, a baby is found abandoned on the beach. Named Brendan by Ambrose Bonnar, the fisherman who adopts him, the baby captivates the town and the boy he grows to be will captivate them still - no one can quite fathom Brendan Bonnar. For Christine, Ambrose''s wife, Brendan brings both love and worry. For their existing son, his new brother''s arrival is the start of a life-long rivalry. And though Ambrose brings Brendan into his home out of love, it is a decision that will fracture his family and force this man - more comfortable at sea than on land - to try to understand himself and those he cares for. Told over two decades, Garrett Carr''s The Boy from the Sea is a novel about a restless boy trying to find his place in the world and a family fighting to hold itself together. It is a story of ordinary lives made extraordinary, a drama about a community who can''t help but look to the boy from the sea for answers as they face the storm of a rapidly changing world.

Autorentext
Garrett Carr teaches Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, and he is a frequent contributor to The Guardian and The Irish Times. His non-fiction The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland's Border was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. The Boy from the Sea is his debut novel.

Klappentext

**A Waterstones Book of the Month
As read on BBC Radio 4
A Sunday Times Best Book of the Year
An Observer Best Debut of the Year

A baby is found abandoned on a windswept Irish beach, and nothing in this small coastal town will ever be the same again. The Boy from the Sea is Garrett Carr's moving tale of a boy that brings together a community, but changes a family forever . . .**

'Compassionate, lyrical and full of devilment' - Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses
'A joy . . . Vivid, loving and genuinely funny' - The Sunday Times
'I didn't want it to ever end' - Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things

In 1973 on the west coast of Ireland, a baby is found abandoned on the beach. Who is he? Where is he from?

Ambrose, a local fisherman, is far more interested in who he will become and - with a curious community looking on - takes the baby home and adopts him. But for Declan, Ambrose's young son, this arrival is surely bad news. Rivalries can be decades in the making, and families are easy to break . . .

**Readers love The Boy from the Sea:

'Left me feeling warm and satisfied when I finished it and I've thought about it daily since then' *****
'Books are meant to change you, to shape you, and to heal you, and The Boy from the Sea does all those things' *****
'You feel like you're right there in the village' *****
'Stunning. I found myself waking up at 5am because I was desperate to read more' *****
'Felt like I was stepping off life's treadmill and immersing myself in another world' *******