On Rough Seas

Set in 1940 Dover, this first novel plays for high stakes. It begins with the drowning of the 14-year-old protagonist's younger cousin, a tragedy that exacerbates the boy's first conflict: Alec longs to be a seaman while his father wants him to help run the family inn. Hull effectively builds Alec's self-reliance as he juggles his home duties with work as a galley boy aboard the local skiff Britannia. As the war thickens, he befriends soldiers billeted at the inn and unravels a mystery surrounding their mission. The cast, rather tidily, includes an acerbic first mate and a German Jewish orphan girl, both too broadly rendered. The plotting builds to Dunkirk (Alec stows away in order to participate in the evacuation), where Alec's offshore heroics also seem overly neat. However, readers unfamiliar with the story of Dunkirk will be impressed, and Hull's research is solid. Ages 10–14. (Apr.)