SALTWATER BOY

“Listen to what the ocean was tryin’ to tell ya today. Learn from it.”

With his father in prison and his family unable to pay the rent, 12-year-old Matthew and his mother relocate to the small Australian town of Crawley Point to fix up the beachside cottage his late grandfather had dreamed of retiring to; selling it will bring much-needed cash. When the surfing-obsessed local teens prove unwelcoming, Matthew, who’s cued white, finds companionship with Bill, an old Indigenous fisherman who takes Matthew under his wing, dubbing him a “saltwater boy.” As he gains in confidence, his angry, jealous father, who’s been released on parole, shows up, upending the family’s stability and threatening his friendship with Bill. The story is set in 1992; references to a landmark Indigenous land rights case, Mabo v. Queensland, offer parallels to U.S. history. There’s a heartbreaking authenticity to Matthew’s first-person narration. The incidents of domestic violence, including the verbal and physical abuse and gaslighting he experiences, are intense and unflinching. When Matthew raises justifiable concerns, his mother, frustratingly, makes excuses for his father: “He’s dealing with a lot at the moment. We’ve got to stick by him. That’s what families do.” The redemption arc of the father-son dynamic relies heavily on the aftereffects of external events, eschewing more serious consequences or internal character growth and inviting readers to unpack complex issues. Australian slang adds to the sense of place.

A beautiful, moving debut for sophisticated readers.