Preview
  • How to Build a Boat

  • AS SEEN ON BBC BETWEEN THE COVERS
  • By: Elaine Feeney
  • Narrated by: Ciaran O'Brien
  • Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
  • 5.0 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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How to Build a Boat

By: Elaine Feeney
Narrated by: Ciaran O'Brien
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Publisher's summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023.


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 tall trees, patterns, rain that comes with wind, the curvature of many objects, books with dust jackets, cats, rivers and Edgar Allan 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 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.

©2023 Elaine Feeney (P)2023 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews

"One of those rare books that leaves you feeling less lonely. An uplifting tale of community, healing and the small connections that can change a life. A gorgeous gift of a novel, hopeful and full of humanity." (Douglas Stuart, Booker Prize winning author of Shuggie Bain)

"A heart-stopping read and a stunning, resonant exploration of a community, a motherless boy and living an authentic life." (Sinéad Gleeson)

"What a gorgeous book. Unsentimental but generous, sharp as a teacher's side-eye and bursting with soul." (Lisa McInerney)

What listeners say about How to Build a Boat

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Beautiful demonstration of a Teenage Autistic kid

The focus was not on the Autism but on the eb and flow of the relatable characters without the usual over the top prose. The writing style is easy and accessible to ordinary people not just book worms and scholars and critics. Read in a day, to be savored for a lifetime.

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The many makings of a mind

A breathtaking and beautiful journey....detailed with the pittfalls and heartbreak of contemporary life...the forming of a self....the beauty and clarity that honesty brings....simply a must read

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