Set on the rugged Cornish Coast, Robin Falvey’s stunning debut novel about a boy and the sea is truly a breath of fresh Atlantic Ocean air. 15-year-old Jacob is a boy in big trouble. Sprawled in the road with a van rumbling towards him, when the driver stops and jumps out, Jacob fears the worst. But, instead of yelling at him, he grabs a beat-up surfboard from the back and gives it to him. The guy smiles like he knows something good is about to happen and drives away. For Jacob, the board – a Fulmar – is an unexpected birthday gift, and, for the first time in a long time, he dares to dream of a better life. But his Dad’s dead, his mum’s addicted to cigarettes and daytime TV, he doesn’t fit in at school, and now he’s in trouble with the police. On the upside, there’s Karl, the surf lifeguard who saves him from drowning and teaches him how to swim. Then there’s learning to surf, lifeguard training, and Jade – the brainy surfer girl he's desperate to impress. Can Jacob take the peace he finds in the surf and use it to make wiser choices? Can he make the most of this second chance and become a team player his fellow lifeguards can trust? Not everyone wants the best for Jacob; in the end, he'll have to choose his path. What price is Jacob willing to pay to break free of old ways, find the summer inside himself, and finally become the person he was always meant to be?
