Boy and the Sea, The

- Blurb -

The Boy and the Sea is the astounding new novella from internationally acclaimed New Zealand-born author Kirsty Gunn. Gunn has established herself as a uniquely powerful and significant voice, and has been described as 'a young master' by the Los Angeles Times. She has been compared with Raymond Carver for the exquisite sensitivity with which she sketches ordinary lives and makes them extraordinary. Her first novel Rain was made into a feature film. The Boy and the Sea is a story of a sun-drenched, sea-soaked day, which changes a young boy's life forever. At the start of a summer's day, Ward is waiting on the beach. His friend, Alex, wants him to come to a party at Alison's w here there'll be girls and drinks and the possibilities of fun. But Ward is shy and self conscious and struggling to move from under the weight of his powerful father. He' d rather wait on the beach for the surf to come up. As the the sun moves towards its highest point and the girls' laughte r carries along the wind towards Ward, the tide changes and Ward is faced with a dramatic event that will change his life forever. This beautiful and intense coming-of-age story captures perfectly the discomforts and challenges of being fifteen years old with the world stretching out in front of you. Sensual, heady, as though dazed by the heat of her pages, Gunn slowly unfolds a tale of danger and sexuality, of mothers and sons and the fathers who rule them, and of the sea.