David Almond's latest blends the hallmarks of many of his most powerful novels--the camaraderie of men in Kit's Wilderness, the dangerous play of boys in Clay, the damaged ones of Heaven Eyes who live at the edge of society.
Narrator Dominic Hall, son of a caulker in the shipyards, describes his childhood bond with Holly Stroud, daughter of a designer of ships. Almond cannily reports the comments and body language of the adults around Dominic to convey the societal divide. At first, Dom and Holly play together, blissfully ignorant of the impediments to come. Adolescence progresses and both become infatuated with wild, dangerous Vincent McAlinden. Vincent's mastery of violence and tenderness pushes people away and reels them in, yet he cannot escape his fate, tied to the shipyards. Dom rises above his father's vocation because of his academic excellence and superior writing. Even his English teacher recognizes Dom's gifts: "Be careful with your talent," he tells Dom. "Don't let it damage you. Don't let it take you too far from the people you love."
Almond's magnetic narrative conveys the sounds and heat of the shipyards, the smells of the circus tent where Dom and Holly see the tightrope walkers, the quality of the light at sunset after a satisfying day. And he tells of the tightrope humans walk between social divides, sanity and insanity, faith and doubt, friendship and sex, what we're born to, what we can rise above--and what traps us. Mesmerizing. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness