Synopsis
As read on BBC Radio 4
A Sunday Times Best Book of the Year
An Observer Best Debut of the Year
‘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? What changes will he bring?
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, the baby’s new brother, this arrival is surely bad news. Rivalries can be decades in the making . . .
Set over twenty years, Garrett Carr’s The Boy from the Sea is about a restless boy trying to find his place in the world, and a town caught in the storm of a rapidly approaching future.
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’ *****
Details
29 January 2026
9781035044573Reviews
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. This is a strange, beautiful, truly compelling triumph . . . a breathtaking achievementJoseph O'Connor, author of Star of the Sea and My Father's House
I didn't want it to ever endJennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
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
