CLOSER BY SEA BY PERRY CHAFE

CLOSER BY SEA BY PERRY CHAFE

I spent a good decade working with a fellow from Newfoundland who would talk about his home province as though she were a magical land. And this book paints the same picture. It's a self acclaimed  "homage to a people and a place". 

What a people, and what a place. 

This is the one about 12 year old Pierce Jacobs. Three years ago his fisherman father was lost at sea, and now he and his mom do their best on their isolated fishing island. But it's the early '90's and times are tough. Pierce and his pals carry knives in their belt, wait to cut cod tongues at the wharf when the catch is big enough, and ride their ATV's over the rugged terrain searching for traces of a missing teenage girl.  

Reminiscent of Stephen King's 'The Body' aka the movie Stand By Me, I love the repartee of bantering 12 year-olds:  "It'll be a fun story to tell the other kids in juvie." 

Maybe, because I have three sons, I might have a soft spot for young boys facing the challenges of growing up but this book just hammered me with its heart.

I loved it.