Past the Shallows (Favel Parrett, Hachette)

The wild coast of Tasmania provides a moody backdrop for this story of two young boys. Harry and his older brother Miles live in a tumbledown shack with their worn-down and bitter father, who is a fisherman with his own boat. Their mother died some years earlier and the boys’ memories of her and her death are sketchy. Fishing is a cold, tough way to make a living, and when the boys’ oldest brother Joe leaves town, Miles knows he is stuck with helping his dad on the boat, even though he hates it. Harry is scared of the water and has been spared fishing because of seasickness. One day when their father insists both boys go out on the boat in rough weather, a tragedy seems inevitable. This debut novel doesn’t have a single excess word and the characters are thoroughly believable. Harry in particular is captured with a charm and vulnerability that is really touching. Favel Parrett shows a lot of patience and restraint in her first but hopefully not her last novel. She is a seriously good writer. This book reminded me of Danielle Wood’s The Alphabet of Light and Dark, also set in Tasmania, and the way the young characters were captured put me in mind of Jasper Jones a bit.

Heather Dyer is the owner of Fairfield Books in Melbourne. This review first appeared in the April 2011 issue of Bookseller+Publisher magazine. Past the Shallows has been shortlisted for the 2012 Miles Franklin Literary Awards.

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews