Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2025. On losing her father Teresa returns to a small town on
the Greek coast - the same place she visited when grieving her mother nine years ago. She
immerses herself again in the life of the town observing the inhabitants going about their
business a quiet backdrop for her reckoning with herself. An episode from her first visit
resurfaces vividly - her encounter with John a man struggling to come to terms with the
violent death of his nephew. Soon Teresa encounters some of the people she met last time
around: Petros an eccentric mechanic whose life story may or may not be part of John's the
beautiful Niko a diving instructor and Xanthe a waitress in one of the cafés on the leafy
town square. They talk about their longings regrets the passing of time their sense of who
they are. Artfully constructed absorbing and insightful One Boat is a brilliant novel
grappling with questions of identity free will guilt and responsibility.
