The Offing by Benjamin Myers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
At first I thought there were echoes of Patrick Leigh Fermor’s A Time of Gifts. In fact it is nothing like Fermor’s book. Benjamin Myers uses copious amounts of adjectives and likes to show off his expansive vocabulary. Sometimes the writing verges on purple prose, “It was a dark and stormy night …” and this nearly put me off reading past the first few chapters. Nevertheless, I persisted and I’m glad I did.
This story of a young man from the coal mining town of Durham is a gentle read. Robert sets out on his travels and finds that post-war England is more than the grimy, soot covered home he’s always known.
My call is that this is a good book to read on holiday.
thoughts and memories 