Based on a true story, Duffy opens up the world of 1900s working-class London through three Walworth boys, Tom, Jimmy and Itzhak. The boys are different in background, but united in their sense of adventure, and their nascent manhood. All three have their hearts set on a scout trip to sea: the sea, with its sirens and superstitions, is an ominous presence in the novel.

Duffy’s story reaches back generations, showing London through different ages, angles and accents. The great span of the book contrasts with deeply personal histories, detailed through intimate events, often marked by objects that have been passed down. The talismans and charms, angels and wishing bones that punctuate the story talk of hope against the odds, in lives marred with infant deaths, poverty, and exhaustion – yet throughout there is a profound sense of belonging, of blood, of the ties which bind. Duffy’s narrative lulls you into the ordinary at the outset, but builds, poetically, into steady waves – first of fear, then of sorrow.