Simon Baker

Two can be as bad as one

Secrets of the Sea<br /> by Nicholas Shakespeare

Secrets of the Sea
by Nicholas Shakespeare

Nicholas Shakespeare’s new novel is set in Wellington Point, an inauspicious fictional Tasmanian town. It is a place offering few prospects: the only jobs are menial, and the only person with any vim is the odious Ray Grogan, an estate agent who seduces local women by comparing them to the Taj Mahal by moonlight. People who move to Wellington Point do so, more often than not, for a quiet life.

One such person is Alex Dove. Alex’s English parents arrived, full of hope, in Wellington Point before Alex was born, but his father became inward and alcoholic, interested only in building ships in bottles. He and his wife were killed in a car crash when Alex was 11, and Alex was sent to England. He went back to Wellington Point at 23 and stayed there, renovating his parents’ old house and farm and trying to find some identity in a place where he is eternally regarded as a ‘pom’.

The novel begins in 1988, four years after his return, when Alex meets Merridy Bowman. Merridy recently dropped out of university to nurse her father who was paralysed in an industrial accident. At the start of the novel, her family move to Wellington Point for the affordable accommodation, and Merridy has a brief romance with Alex. Her father then dies, and her mother leaves, but Merridy stays with Alex on the farm. Together they reside among their unspoken sadness: Merridy is haunted in particular by the disappearance of her younger brother when they were children, and Alex cannot face his parents’ deaths. They marry, and live among the cobwebby ships in bottles, hoping to start a family.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in