Boy from the Sea

An Observer Best Debut of 2025An ordinary town. An extraordinary boy. The heart-warming, life-affirming debut story of a baby found on a beach and the fisherman who adopts him.'Compassionate, lyrical and full of devilment' - Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses'A joy . . . vivid, loving and genuinely funny' The Sunday Times1973. In a close-knit 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 boy will become a source of fascination and hope for a town caught in the storm of a rapidly changing world.Ambrose, a man more comfortable at sea than on land, brings Brendan into his home out of love. But 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.Set over twenty years, Garrett Carr's The Boy From the Sea is a novel about a restless boy trying to find his place in the world. It is an exploration of the ties that make us and bind us, as a family and community move irresistibly into the future.Readers love this gorgeous debut:'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' *****'Left me feeling warm and satisfied when I finished it and I've thought about it daily since then' *****