The Main Cages by Philip Marsden

The Main Cages

Philip Marsden

I didn't think I'd enjoy this book as I have no interest in the sea but I found it very engrossing and finished it in a few sittings. The story of the changing way of life in a Cornish fishing village in the 1930s was completely absorbing.

Extract
He himself barely noticed anything that month but the sea. The rhythms of his days were sea rhythms. He had no land life; his gaze was filled with the waves and their rise and fall, with gannets travelling against grey skies; he watched cloud ranges swell on the horizon and the rain on the boat's fresh paint form into droplets and vibrate with the engine.
Parallels
  • Waterland by Graham Swift
  • The Shipping News by Annie Proulx
  • Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch