Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr

As read on BBC Radio 4
A Sunday Times Best Book of the Year
An Observer Best Debut of the Year

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.

‘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?

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, Ambrose’s young son, this arrival is surely bad news. Rivalries can be decades in the making, and families are easy to break . . .

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’ *****

Incredibly moving, witty and warm, The Boy from the Sea is a story of a family and a town, and what difference the arrival of one child can make. For fans of Kate Atkinson, Elizabeth Strout, Claire Keegan and Jon McGregor.

About the Author: Garrett Carr teaches Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, and has published three YA novels with Simon & Schuster. The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland’s Border was published by Faber in 2017 and was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Garrett is a frequent contributor to The Guardian and The Irish Times. The Boy from the Sea is his debut novel for adults.

29 Jan 2026
 

The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr ISBN 9781035044573