When Frankie Hermans emerges from a coma after 200 days, he knows his life is never going to be the same again. For a start, he can't talk, he can't walk and it's a struggle even to wield a pen. And then there's Joe Speedboat - a boy who arrived in the sleepy village of Lomark like a blazing comet and who's been stirring things up ever since. Whether setting off bombs, racing mopeds or building a bi-plane, Joe has the touch of a magician and the spirit of a daredevil. He also sees a use for Frankie's good right arm beyond writing: as a champion arm-wrestler Frankie will be strong enough to impress his friends, and maybe even win the favour of the gorgeous, golden-haired girl who has them all in a spin. Full of vitality, verve and chutzpah, Joe Speedboat tells the fast-paced story of an unlikely friendship between two boys, and of their lightning dash towards adulthood.

Author Biography

Tommy Wieringa was born in Curacao in 1967 and grew up partly in the Netherlands, and partly in the tropics. He began his writing career with travel stories and journalism before turning to the novel. Wieringa has won numerous awards for his work, including Holland's Halewijn Prize for All About Tristan in 2002, and the Ferdinand Bordewijk Prize for Joe Speedboat in 2006. Both of these novels were also nominated for the AKO Literature Prize. His second novel, Little Caesar, was shortlisted for the IMPAC Award, and his most recent novel, These Are The Names, won Holland's Libris Literature Prize for 2013 and has sold over 200,000 copies across Europe.