The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Winton, Tim. Breath. Picador, 2018.

Breath, by Tim Winton, focuses on four years in the life of teenager Bruce Pike (Pikelet), as remembered by Pikelet when he is nearing fifty years old.

The novel begins with the adult Pikelet (a paramedic) arriving too late to save a teenage boy who has hanged himself. The incident puts him in mind of his own youth and close encounters with death, prompting him to revisit those memories.

Pikelet and his best friend Loonie used to hang out by the river, carrying out pranks and dares, and challenging each other to hold their breath underwater. They became obsessed with surfing after a trip to the sea, when they met a group of older surfers. The following year – by which time Loonie was thirteen and Pikelet twelve – they met Sando, an experienced surfer who allowed them to store their boards at his house near the sea.

In time they became regular visitors to the house. They adored Sando, but were wary of his moody American wife, Eva. Sando trained the boys up and took them out to a secret spot (Barney’s), for extreme surfing. The three of them became notorious for their daring exploits. However, when Loonie missed out on a long-awaited surfing expedition (to Old Smoky), it exacerbated the tensions between him and Pikelet. While Pikelet had a girlfriend and enjoyed reading, Loonie attended a less academic school and made disreputable friends.

Pikelet was devastated when Sando took Loonie with him to Indonesia. While they were gone, he got to know Eva better. She had been a radical skier whose career had come to an end when she injured her knee. Having just returned from the US following an unsuccessful operation, she was angry with Sando for going away.

Sando took the boys to a new and dangerous site (the Nautilus), but Pikelet refused to surf. Next time they went without him, so Pikelet returned to Old Smoky instead, where he put himself in grave danger but proved his courage.

When Sando and Loonie went abroad again, Pikelet (now fifteen years old) entered into a sexual relationship with Eva. Using him at first for conventional sex, Eva eventually persuaded the infatuated Pikelet to assist her in acts of erotic asphyxiation. They stopped when it became obvious that Eva was pregnant.

Further events brought a speedy end to this era of Pikelet’s life: the return of Sando (without Loonie), the death of Pikelet’s father, and the departure of Sando and Eva with their new baby. The remainder of the novel consists of fragmentary information, with Pikelet summarizing his subsequent experiences. We learn that Eva hanged herself accidentally (like the young man at the start of the novel), and that Loonie was murdered in connection with his criminal career. After years of mental instability and a failed marriage, Pikelet takes pride in his work as a paramedic, and can reassure his daughters that he is a decent member of society.