My father disappeared the day after he rescued the young girl which was on the day after my 9^th birthday. It was in all the papers.


And so begins Amy Appleton's account of growing up as a lifeboatman's daughter on the North Norfolk coast as she seeks to unravel the events of that fateful night, 31^st March, 2001.


We journey with her through this sometimes gentle, sometimes not, coming-of-age story as she bears witness to the triumphs, thrills, treacheries, terrors, and tragedies of life lived close to the unpredictable sea. She finds solace in unexpected places and from unexpected encounters.


She fears for her father, watches the adults around her, finds herself too often an unwilling listener at doors, a bewildered observer, searching for her place in the world, wondering, learning as she moves towards forging her own path, finding her own way as she approaches the birthday of her life...