Beyond the Sea

Readers who know Lynch’s previous book, Grace, set in Ireland during the Great Famine, will know what poetry he brings to the plight of people forced to the very brink of existence.

Here, a rough and unreliable fisherman, Bolivar, is in trouble over a drug debt and needs to go to sea to make some ready cash. A storm is coming, but he is tough and knows his boat.

As a last resort he hires the hapless Hector, who has a much more meagre understanding of the world. Of course, the worst happens, and Bolivar and Hector cling on in their own ways, trying to survive. There is not much to hold onto as Bolivar drifts into an existential netherworld where rescue no longer even matters.