Paul Lynch’s new novel, BEYOND THE SEA, will be published by Oneworld in Ireland and the UK, on 29 August 2019, followed by publication in the US by Farrar, Straus & Giroux on 10 March 2020. Speaking about Beyond the Sea, Oneworld publisher Juliet Mabey said: “This is a gripping and redemptive tale that sits squarely in the tradition of Camus, Joyce, Beckett and McCarthy. Readers and reviewers were captivated by the language in Grace, which was described by The Sunday Times as ‘bold, grandiose, mesmeric’, and for Paul’s evocative descriptions of the Irish landscape. For this new story Paul has moved from land to sea with all the beauty and merciless power that comes with that. I can’t wait for people to read it.”
According to Farrar, Straus & Giroux, this is “the haunting story of two men stranded at sea pushing against their physical and mental limits to stay alive. Based partly on true events, Paul Lynch’s haunting and sublime novel Beyond the Sea tells the story of two South American fishermen, Bolivar and Hector, who go to sea before a catastrophic storm. “Needing cash, Bolivar convinces his boss to let him fish despite the weather. His fishing partner is nowhere to be found, so he brings Hector, a sullen and inexperienced teenager. The storm arrives, and though the two men survive, they’ve been blown hundreds of miles out in the Pacific Ocean with little hope for rescue. Coming to terms with their new reality, they are forced to accept their separation from the modern world, their sudden and inescapable intimacy, and the possibilities and limits of faith, hope, and survival. As the days go by, they grapple with the mistakes of their pasts, the severity of their present, and the uncertainty of their future. And though Bolivar and Hector fight to maintain their will to live, nothing in the barren seascape or in their minds promises that they will make it. “Ambitious and profoundly moving, Beyond the Sea explores what it means to be a man, a friend, and a sinner in a fallen world. With evocative prose, Lynch crafts a suspenseful drama that refuses sentimentality or easy answers. Instead, Beyond the Sea is a hard-won and intimate rendering of the extremities of human life, both physical and mental.” In advance praise for the book, Canadian author Jane Urquhart, said “Combining the sensibilities of a Joseph Conrad or a Cormac McCarthy with the poetic intensity of an Emily Dickinson, this rich, raw, and powerful seascape by Paul Lynch throws the sea’s storms and the sea’s light into the darkest corners of human consciousness. An astonishing achievement.” Irish novelist, Mary Costello, author of Academy Street, called the novel, “a powerful, heart-breaking story of friendship forged in the most extreme conditions. With its echoes of Greek myth, it yields up those small moments of grace that are deeply transformative.”