After his father dies, Thomas moves with his mother from the rural interior of England to Cornwall’s stormy coast. There he learns to deal with the sea’s frightening power and to accept the changes that have brought him to Penzance. He’s helped by his uncle William, a fisherman; Mr. Trelawney, his artist neighbour; and the bronze lion statue on the promenade. His uncle and Mr. Trelawney show Thomas some of the sea’s many facets – its power and pragmatism, its shifting beauty. The lion inspires Thomas to discover his own courageous self when his uncle’s boat comes unmoored during a storm.

This gentle, thoughtful book fits well with Troon Harrison’s other work. The child protagonist finds in simple everyday things the encouragement he needs to adapt to his new life. He confronts his fears about the power and danger of nature as he matures and absorbs the reality of death.

At times Harrison’s dialogue feels slightly wooden and the text itself overly constructed. The lion motif, which recurs throughout, could have been more subtle. It inspires important images at the heart of the story, but feels too rigorously worked out. Mark Foreman’s illustrations offer a pleasant accompaniment to the text. His landscapes and seascapes are more engaging and successful than his figurative drawings. Some of the illustrations have a powerful energy, but none of them extend or augment the meaning of the story in any tangible way, as happens in the best picture books.