Author: Garrett CarrModern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945) | Sagas | Historical fiction | Fiction: special features | Adoption & fosteringPublished on 29th January 2026 by Pan Macmillan (Picador) in the United Kingdom.Paperback / softback | 336 pages 197mm x 130mm | 0g As read on BBC Radio 4A Sunday Times Best Book of the YearAn Observer Best Debut of the YearThe 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 ThingsIn 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’ *****
