The Bell at Low Tide: A Coming-of-Age Novella

On a weather-beaten English coast, a boy hears a bell tolling faintly beneath the tide — and something deeper inside himself begins to stir.

The Bell at Low Tide is a tender, lyrical coming-of-age novella set on a weather-beaten English coast and within the cloistered halls of a boarding school.

Thirteen-year-old Théo arrives at Marlen Abbey already fluent in silence—an observer of others, unsure how to voice the truths growing inside him. When an enigmatic older boy named Julian draws him into a world of tide charts, hidden rituals, and unspoken codes, something within Théo begins to shift. Beneath the surface, he hears what others ignore: a bell tolling faintly under the waves—and something deeper still, echoing inside himself.

Echoing the emotional precision of Alan Hollinghurst and the quiet atmosphere of early Kazuo Ishiguro, The Bell at Low Tide traces the gentle arc of first longing, the ache of unexpressed feeling, and the beauty of stillness.

For readers who cherish quiet, character-driven stories of friendship, secrecy, and the fragile music of growing up.