A Small Boat at the Bottom of the Sea
When twelve-year-old Donovan Sanger is sent to spend the summer with his Uncle Bix—an ex-con—and his Aunt Hattie, who is dying from lung cancer, he does not know what to expect. But at least he’ll get away from his twin sisters, Holly and Heather, “The Two H’s,” who once painted his toes while he slept. Before a week goes by, Donovan is recruited to help Bix retrieve the motor from a sunken boat, given a flattop short as a golf green, and learns that his uncle’s criminal past might be something he has not entirely left behind.
A perfect reading adventure—hailed as “moving and believable” (New York Times)—A Small Boat at the Bottom of the Sea is a rich exploration of the courage it takes to attain redemption, and the power of strong relationships to help people look beyond the bad choices others make and see the good inside them.
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John Thomson
John Thomson is the author of A Small Boat at the Bottom of the Sea. His stories have appeared in several literary magazines, including Collateral, Terrain, The Raven’s Perch, and others. His story “Out of Good Ground” won Terrain’s 2018 prize for fiction. He has worked as a government wildlife biologist and as a land steward for a nonprofit land trust in Northern California, where he and his wife live close to their two grown daughters.
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