How to Build a Boat

A deeply moving novel about a boy and his dream, from the prize-winning author of As You Were Jamie O'Neill loves the colour red. He also loves the London Underground map, trees, the number three, rain that comes with wind, the mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, the curvature and geodesics of many objects, and Edgar Allen Poe.

At age 13 there are two things he especially wants in life: to build a Perpetual Motion Machine, and to connect with his mother Noelle, who died when he was born. In his beautiful mind these things are intimately linked. And at his new school, where all else is disorientating and overwhelming, he finds two people who might just be able to help him. How to Build a Boat is the story of how one boy and his mission transforms the lives of his teachers, Tess and Tadhg, and brings together a community.

Written with tenderness and verve, it's about love, family and connection, the power of imagination, and how our greatest adventures never happen alone.