The Boy from the Sea

Compulsive reading . . . Compassionate, lyrical and full of devilmentLouise Kennedy, author of Trespasses

A novel of heart-bumping power and sparkling vividness, this book evokes the seethe and surge of an island nation's sea fables while being suspicious of sentiment, often wittily so. Its depiction of a stranger's arrival recalls great rural storytelling, from Jean de Florette to Synge's mouthy playboy and the country music mystery tales in which a newcomer rides into town. This is a strange, beautiful, truly compelling triumph, a story about a very specific place that somehow comes to seem an everywhere and a people who feel familiar as faces in mirrors. A breathtaking achievementJoseph O'Connor, author of Star of the Sea and My Father's House

A tremendous story about a family changed by the arrival of a strange boy, which feels like an instant classic . . . huge hearted, masterful . . . Told in a captivating communal voice like nothing I've ever read before . . . The Boy from the Sea is a dazzling exploration of the ties that make and bind us, as a family and community more inexorably towards the future. I'll be pressing a copy of this book into the hands of everyone I know.Lauren Brown, The Bookseller, Book of the Month

A ruefully funny portrait of a dysfunctional family in a struggling town, The Boy from the Sea rings painfully true. I was grippedEmma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room