Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett

First published in Australia; published by Washington Square Press on April 22, 2014

Miles works on his father's fishing boat, from which his father and another man dive for abalone off the coast of Tasmania. Miles hates the work, hates his life. His mother died in a car accident that Miles and his younger brother Harry survived. More recently, his grandfather died. His older brother Joe is building his own boat and intends to sail away to a better life. Miles wants to go to school but that plan is shattered when his father's helper is injured, forcing Miles to take his place on the boat. If he can't earn a living by fishing, he may be destined for the cannery, where most of his former classmates work.

The novel's focus divides between Miles and Harry. Joe plays only a peripheral role, as does a man named George who, despite his frightening appearance, befriends Harry and gives him a sense of how a father should behave. With Joe gone, Harry and Miles count on each other for the love that their father withholds, but they are young and they need more than each other.

Past the Shallows is a novel of terrible secrets and lost innocence. It is at times difficult to read. Some scenes are harrowing and others are shocking. For reasons that are not fully revealed until near the novel's end, Miles' father would easily win a trophy for World's Worst Dad. He is drunk and abusive but that's only half the story. This is a book that, years from now, I am likely to remember with a shudder.

Although in many ways depressing, the sadness of the story is partially offset by wonderful scenes of rural people doing what they can (even when it isn't much) to help each other. The characters in Past the Shallows are so convincing and the story is so intense and so honest that, depressing or not, it makes for compelling reading. Favel Parrett tells the story in crisp, quiet language that is evocative without ever overreaching or striking a false note. Past the Shallows is a book by a writer who is in firm control of her story, her characters, and her prose.

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