p>Through the early years of a friendship between two boys, Into the Sea touches on first freedoms, the seesawing transition from innocence to adolescence and the impact of sudden loss. In later parts, the novel powerfully evokes life on the road and the unpredictability of trusting to chance travelling in remote places. Along the way, it richly and sensitively describes the landscapes of Australia and Indonesia and their people. The book also captures what it is to ride waves, to be a surfer and, in a more subtle way, the trials, if not impossibilities, of loving one