Ethan has stopped speaking. Living on his parents narrowboat Deity he doesn't go to school either, home schooled after being bullied but his parents and Mary from the council want him to return. Then a girl arrives moored on a shiny boat near his. Polly doesn't seem to mind that he doesn't talk, tentatively he begins to show her his world, the riverbank, the den that his father built for him. And Ethan begins to believe that maybe, just maybe, he could want to speak again and face the hidden fears that made him mute.
Carter's skill is that she writes so eloquently from Ethan's point of view and in his voice, despite his voicelessness we hear the sadness and isolation of a young boy who doesn't fit and share with him his journey in this little tale. Loved it.
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