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Beyond the Sea

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Beyond the Sea

By: Paul Lynch
Narrated by: Gerry O'Brien
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About this listen

Bolivar and Hector go to sea before a catastrophic storm. Needing cash, Bolivar convinces his boss to let him fish despite the weather. His fishing partner is nowhere to be found, so he brings Hector, a sullen and inexperienced teenager. The storm arrives, and though the two men survive, they’ve been blown hundreds of miles out in the Pacific Ocean with little hope for rescue.

Coming to terms with their new reality, they are forced to accept their separation from the modern world, their sudden and inescapable intimacy, and the possibilities and limits of faith, hope, and survival. As the days go by, they grapple with the mistakes of their pasts, the severity of their present, and the uncertainty of their future. And though Bolivar and Hector fight to maintain their will to live, nothing in the barren seascape or in their minds promises that they will make it.

Ambitious and profoundly moving, Beyond the Sea explores what it means to be a man, a friend and a sinner in our fallen world. With evocative prose, Lynch crafts a suspenseful drama that refuses sentimentality or easy answers – a hard-won and intimate rendering of the extremities of human life, both physical and mental.

©2019 Paul Lynch (P)2023 Bolinda Publishing Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Sea Adventures World Literature Adventure Survival Suspense

Critic reviews

'The novel’s foundations are like the ocean, too unfixed and unfathomable to allow the philosophical disputes to advance in a linear fashion.' (Wall Street Journal)
'Thrillingly stripped-back prose composed of simple, declarative sentences that viscerally captures Bolivar’s physical and spiritual transformation.' (The Australian)
'The light and dark of their lives play out in a story that is dazzling, unsettling and deeply revealing of the human condition.' (Brisbane News)
All stars
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This was an unusual book in which very little of substance happens, however it is beautifully written and was hard to put down. The ebb and flow of the sea is reflected in the ebb and flow of the physical and emotional struggles of the fishermen. Reflective and thoughtful, it will haunt my imagination long after this story ends. I thoroughly recommend it.

The story of a storm and much more

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