Breath by Tim Winton [Paperback:

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Tim Winton is Australias best-loved novelist.  Breath is an extraordinary evocation of an adolescence spent resisting complacency, testing ones limits against nature, finding like-minded souls, and discovering just how far one breath will take you. Its a story of extremes - extreme sports and extreme emotions.

On the wild, lonely coast of Western Australia, two thrill-seeking and barely adolescent boys fall into the enigmatic thrall of veteran big-wave surfer Sando.  Together they form an odd but elite trio.  The grown man initiates the boys into a kind of Spartan ethos, a regimen of risk and challenge, where they test themselves in storm swells on remote and shark-infested reefs, pushing each other to the edges of endurance, courage, and sanity. 

But where is all this heading?  Why is their mentors past such forbidden territory?  And what can explain his American wifes peculiar behavior?  Venturing beyond all limits - in relationships, in physical challenge, and in sexual behavior - there is a point where oblivion is the only outcome.

Full of Wintons lyrical genius for conveying physical sensation, Breath is a rich and atmospheric coming-of-age tale from one of world literatures finest storytellers.