The Fisherman's Son — Michael Koepf

Drifting in a life raft off the northern California coast after a horrifying shipwreck, Neil Kruger retreats from his fear by recalling scenes from his childhood. He finds solace in memories of his father, a taciturn man who introduced him to the fisherman's life; his mother, who worked at the local cannery to keep the family fed; and a host of local fishermen, whose battles with the sea become for Neil both a model and a tragic foreshadowing of his own fate.

At once a stunning evocation of a dying world and an intimate story of a troubled family, The Fisherman's Son is a triumphant and utterly authentic novel about our lifelines to childhood and the pull of the sea.