The Boy from the Sea

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 The Boy from the Sea is Garrett Carr's brilliantly moving tale of an abandoned baby who rocks a small Irish town, bringing together a community - and igniting lifelong rivalries. Perfect for fans of Kate Atkinson and Claire Keegan. 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, the baby's new brother, this arrival is surely bad news. Rivalries can be decades in the making . . . Set over twenty years, The Boy from the Sea is about a restless boy trying to find his place, in a town caught in the storm of a rapidly changing world. 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' *

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.