First published 2019
Quill and his friends arrive at the remote sea stac for another summer of fowling, hunting birds on the jagged rock that rises from the ocean. The boys know the routine well. They will spend weeks on this desolate outcrop, gathering eggs and catching seabirds, then return home as young men hardened by the experience. But when summer ends, no boat appears on the horizon. Days pass, then weeks. The boys scan the waters desperately, but they remain alone on their prison of stone. Winter approaches with brutal cold and savage storms. Food runs short. The murderous ocean batters their refuge without mercy. Quill and the others must find ways to survive on this forsaken place where death lurks in every crashing wave and bitter wind. They face a simple question with no easy answer: how long can eight boys endure when the world seems to have forgotten them completely?
Genres: survival, historical-fiction, adventure, coming-of-age
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: found-family, stranded
Setting: Sea Stac
Period: 20th-century
327 pages · Kindle Edition · Flatiron Books
Content warnings: death