Such a beautiful short book: I am glad I listened to the hype on this one.
A book about youthful hopes and dreams, it’s also an elegiac tale about changing industries and vanishing ways of life.
Working hard, scratching out a living by looking for shrimp on the rainy, low-tide shores of Northern England, Thomas is slowly starting to want more from his life.
He loves his ma and his horse, but the work is hard and the pay is poor.
You really get into Thomas’s head and you love him for it. Insecure and vulnerable, but also talented and generous, Thomas is young a man who has a lifetime ahead of him, yet already feels prematurely old and wise.
The contrast between youthful enthusiasm and aged cynicism deepens as Thomas’s story collides with an unlucky visitor. Can his life really go down a different path?
The descriptions of the sea, the horse, the house, the beach – all beautiful, almost claustrophobic in their detail.
I’d recommend this one heartily!
One word: buoyant.
Leave a Comment