Girl,Boy,Sea by Chris Vick

"The wind began to rage, waves heaved and pitched as if the sea had been storm-savaged for days, not minutes.” ‘Girl.Boy.Sea.’ is a fantastical story by Chris Vick which explores the aftermath of a big storm. It is wonderfully written and full of unlikely adventure.

Bill is on a sailing holiday when a storm comes out of nowhere and sinks his boat. Unfortunately as the crew are escaping, he leaves the others to get supplies for the lifeboat,  it floats away so he is stuck with a small dinghy and only one oar. Everything changes when he rescues the victim of another wreck, Aya, a girl from the nomadic Berber tribe of Morocco. Now they are stuck with little fresh water and hungry. As death becomes more and more appealing to them, Aya re-tells stories from One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, giving them hope of survival for the next day just as Shahrazad did in the folk tales.

  I think this awe inspiring book is extremely clear and good. This book is wonderfully written, and what I like most about it is that it is full of the thrill of survival."

Book Description

Storm, shipwreck, survival.

Chris Vick's novel delves deep into the might and majesty of the unpredictable ocean, the strength of an unlikely friendship between a British boy and a Berber girl and their will to survive against all the odds. A British boy narrowly survives the sinking of his yacht in a huge storm off the coast of Morocco. After days alone at sea in a tiny rowing boat Bill rescues a girl clinging for her life to a barrel.

Aya, from the nomadic Berber tribe, was escaping to Europe when her migrant ship was destroyed in the same storm. Through endless days and star-spangled nights, they drift - mere specks on the vast, empty ocean - weakened by fear, hunger, and burned by the unforgiving sun. Aya tells Bill about The Arabian Nights, and Shahrazad, who told 1001 stories to save her life.

As hope of rescue begins to fade, they find strength in these tales of magic, brave heroes, wily thieves, greedy sultans, and courageous girls. When they land on a desert island, they're surprised to be confronted by a stranger who is not what he seems... and back out on the waves once more in the dark deep, a shadow follows...