“If you read only one book this year, make sure it’s this” (<I>The Sunday Times</I>, London): An award-winning debut novel from a rising star in Australia—a hauntingly beautiful story about the bond of brotherhood and the fragility of youth.<br><br>Joe, Miles, and Harry, are growing up on the remote southern coast of Tasmania, a stark, untamed landscape swathed by crystal blue waters. Their lives are shaped by their father’s moods: Like the ocean he fishes, he is wild and unpredictable, warped by a devastating secret. <BR> <BR>Every day their dad battles the unpredictable ocean to make a living. Harry, the youngest, is the most vulnerable and it seems he bears the brunt of his father’s anger. Unlike Joe, Harry and Miles are too young to leave home and are forced to live under the dark cloud of their father’s mood, trying to stay as invisible as possible whenever he is home. Miles tries his best to watch out for Harry, but he can’t be there all the time. Often alone, Harry finds joy in the small treasures he discovers by the edge of the sea—shark eggs, cuttlefish bones, and the friendship of a mysterious neighbor. But sometimes small treasures, or a brother’s love, are not enough…<BR> <BR>Vividly rendered in gorgeous, spare prose, <I>Past the Shallows </I>is<I> </I>“Wintonesque” (<I>Herald Sun</I>, Australia).