I hope this book finds its readers. This story is told in lyrical prose, close to poetry but not quite, and meanders a bit through a brief time in the life of Sophea, called Sofie, who lives in Portsmouth NH with her father, Johnny. I could feel Portsmouth come alive around me in Farish's story, and I can picture Johnny going on fishing trips and coming back. Sofie desperately wants to keep him home in NH, but the fishing industry is dying and he needs to go away. This prompts her mother and grandmother to move in, people Sofie wants nothing to do with, as they have been long absent from her life. He also doesn't want her to see Luke, a deckhand of his who is suffering from PTSD after being a medic in Afghanistan.

I was initially troubled by the idea of a romance between a almost 17 year old and a 22 year old, but it does work in the story. You can feel the draw between the two of them. I'm glad the story ends the way it does, which feels realistic. It's not happily, everything-tied-in-a-bow, but there is a sense of acceptance that feels right.