WHEN THE NIGHT COMES - PARRETT FAVEL - Coronet

“If you read only one book this year, make sure it’s this” (The Sunday Times, London): An award-winning debut novel from a rising star in Australia—a hauntingly beautiful story about the bond of brotherhood and the fragility of youth.

Joe, Miles, and Harry, are growing up on the remote southern coast of Tasmania, a stark, untamed landscape swathed by crystal blue waters. Their lives are shaped by their father’s moods: Like the ocean he fishes, he is wild and unpredictable, warped by a devastating secret.

Every day their dad battles the unpredictable ocean to make a living. Harry, the youngest, is the most vulnerable and it seems he bears the brunt of his father’s anger. Unlike Joe, Harry and Miles are too young to leave home and are forced to live under the dark cloud of their father’s mood, trying to stay as invisible as possible whenever he is home. Miles tries his best to watch out for Harry, but he can’t be there all the time. Often alone, Harry finds joy in the small treasures he discovers by the edge of the sea—shark eggs, cuttlefish bones, and the friendship of a mysterious neighbor. But sometimes small treasures, or a brother’s love, are not enough…

Vividly rendered in gorgeous, spare prose, Past the Shallows is “Wintonesque” (Herald Sun, Australia).

Joe, Miles e Harry vivono sulla costa meridionale della Tasmania, dove la vita è modellata dal mare, dai suoi repentini mutamenti, dalle sfide esaltanti che esso impone. Solo il più piccolo dei tre fratelli, Harry, teme il mare e, mentre Joe e Miles affrontano l'oceano con le loro tavole da surf, lui preferisce raccogliere e custodire i tesori che la marea lascia sulla spiaggia. Ma a forgiare le loro vite è anche il padre, duro e imprevedibile quanto la natura che li circonda. A differenza di Joe, in procinto di abbandonare l'atmosfera opprimente che l'uomo ha imposto loro, Miles e Harry sono ancora troppo giovani per fuggire e sono costretti a vivere sotto la nube scura dello stato d'animo del genitore, un pescatore amareggiato che nasconde un devastante segreto e che riversa la sua rabbia sul più giovane e vulnerabile dei figli.