A gentle tale, looking into the lives of the fishing community in the Donegal area of Ireland. A baby boy, later named Brendan, is found abandoned and shortly afterwards adopted by Ambrose and Christine Bonnar, as a little brother for their son Declan. The story is narrated by an unnamed local man, familiar with the customs of the area, giving it perspective. It’s a moving, at times raw, novel cleverly put together giving an insight to a world where people have different priorities but a strong sense of family and friendship.

A most interesting read and my thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC publication in exchange for a personal review. Well worth reading, even if it’s for the scenery, but delving beneath the minds of the Donegal people, stimulates the senses from the start.

Lovely story of two boys growing up in a fishing village in Ireland. Declan the real son of Christine and Ambrose and Brendan who was adopted by them after Ambrose found him in a barrel as a tiny baby wrapped in tinfoil in the sea.
The story shows the hardship this family faced in the fishing village and the boys never got on there was so much jealousy mainly from Declan he hates to see his dad Ambrose showing any affection or attention to Brendan.Ambrose doesn’t really understand the boys relationship as he treats them both the same as his sons.
After lots of upsets the boys do come good
I really enjoyed the simplicity of this story could feel myself becoming part of this family
Thanks to net galley and picador books for enabling me to read this novel.

Gently written book which serves to underscore the harshness of life depicted in a town completely centred around the tough realities of commercial fishing. The always fractious relationship between two brothers is consistently maintained as the boys develop and change as they get older and with the reader’s sympathies moving with them. Clever narration throughout the story highlights the rhythm of life and neatly moves the story on over the years.

The discovery of a child in a barrel lined with tinfoil in 1973, enthrals the small coastal town where the Bonnars live. Christine and Ambrose’s two-year-old is put out by the sudden appearance of this baby his parents seem so interested in, refusing to accept him as his brother when they adopt him. As the boys grow up, Brendan yearns for Declan’s acceptance, taking to wandering off and administering ‘blessings’ to the town’s less fortunate when it’s not forthcoming, while Declan seethes at tiniest example of favour from their father towards Brendan, insisting on joining Ambrose at sea despite having no wish to be a fisherman. Over the years, the family’s financial fortunes decline until a decision must be made.
Garrett Carr knows how to spin a captivating story, peppering his narrative with wryly humorous observations, while exploring themes of family ties, community and financial hardship against the background of an industrialising fishing industry. His characters are memorably drawn - Christine is the lynchpin of the Bonnar family while Ambrose is its vibrant heart, full of stories and plans, not quite understanding this scratchy relationship between the two boys both of whom he thinks of as his son. A thoroughly enjoyable, immersive novel which left me wanting more from Carr.