The Offing
A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick
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4.2 • 29 Ratings
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
**SOON TO BE A MAJOR FILM STARRING HELENA BONHAM-CARTER**
FROM THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE GALLOWS POLE COMES A POWERFUL NEW NOVEL
A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR
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'What a radical thing, these days, to have written a book so full of warmth and kindness ... Gorgeous' - Max Porter, author of Lanny
'Glorious ... Leaves an indelible impression ... A moving and subtle novel in many ways, infused with a love of the minute pleasures in life, and the lasting regrets' – Scotland on Sunday
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One summer following the Second World War, Robert Appleyard sets out on foot from his Durham village. Sixteen and the son of a coal miner, he makes his way across the northern countryside until he reaches the former smuggling village of Robin Hood's Bay. There he meets Dulcie, an eccentric, worldly, older woman who lives in a ramshackle cottage facing out to sea.
Staying with Dulcie, Robert's life opens into one of rich food, sea-swimming, sunburn and poetry. The two come from different worlds, yet as the summer months pass, they form an unlikely friendship that will profoundly alter their futures.
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An i Book of the Year
A Reading Agency Book of the Year
A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick
A BBC Radio 4 'Book at Bedtime'
An Observer Pick for 2019
Customer Reviews
Lady Patron
A coming of age story about a sixteen year old from a northern English mining community. He wanders off between exams and work in the post war era and finds a female patron living in a cottage by the sea. She opens his eyes to a new perspective on life, whereby freedom and pleasure are the best things to live and fight for. She has lost her German lover and the young main character helps her to uncover this woman’s poetic legacy -only to be richly awarded.
I read the short novel avidly and enjoyed it, although the plot as well as the characteristics of the patron were rather unrealistic, a little bizarre and the ending too good to be true.