Scan barcode
A review by what_heather_loves
The Offing by Benjamin Myers
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
"More than that was the unshakeable thought that Dulcie had seen me in a way entirely unorejudiced by familiarity, history or expectation. That is, she had taken me as she found me, and not only that, but had seen fit to treat me as someone worth bothering with - not quite an equal, for it was clear that she was a wise, worldly and original person and I was none of these. Yet on our brief time together I had begun to feel as if I was becoming someone else. I was approaching being myself, rather than the person I had been living as. Dulcie had seen me as I was, and had not been bored or uninterested."
This an evocative tale of a teenage boy in post-WWII Northern England. Robert leaves his County Durham pit village to seek summer adventure before settling for working in the coal mine with his dad. He experiences beautiful County Durham and North Yorkshire countryside before stumbling across elderly and eccentric Dulcie and her dog Butler in a cottage near Whitby.
With beautifully flowing descriptions of the flora, fauna, landscape and climate he encounters, the languid pace fits the short time frame and the stifling summer weather. Robert and Dulcie's blossoming friendship, borne of helping one another out (Robert with chores, fixing things and Dulcie with extravagent food during rationing) is tender and the most beautiful part of the novel. I shed a tear learning Dulcie's past tragedy and at the end. Reminding me of novels by Sarah Moss and Patrick Gale, this is lyrical, emotional and descriptive, historical fiction, showing friendship can be found in unexpected places.
Recommended to me by Kasia @swim_out_to_it when we visited The Bound bookshop in Whitley Bay.
This an evocative tale of a teenage boy in post-WWII Northern England. Robert leaves his County Durham pit village to seek summer adventure before settling for working in the coal mine with his dad. He experiences beautiful County Durham and North Yorkshire countryside before stumbling across elderly and eccentric Dulcie and her dog Butler in a cottage near Whitby.
With beautifully flowing descriptions of the flora, fauna, landscape and climate he encounters, the languid pace fits the short time frame and the stifling summer weather. Robert and Dulcie's blossoming friendship, borne of helping one another out (Robert with chores, fixing things and Dulcie with extravagent food during rationing) is tender and the most beautiful part of the novel. I shed a tear learning Dulcie's past tragedy and at the end. Reminding me of novels by Sarah Moss and Patrick Gale, this is lyrical, emotional and descriptive, historical fiction, showing friendship can be found in unexpected places.
Recommended to me by Kasia @swim_out_to_it when we visited The Bound bookshop in Whitley Bay.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Grief, and War