Summary of Offshore
The short Booker-Prize winning novel “Offshore” tells the story of Nenna, who lives with her two young daughters on a houseboat on the River Thames in London, hoping that her husband Edward will come back to her. Set in the 1960s, the novel captures the eccentric, close-knit community of houseboat dwellers at Battersea Reach.
Reasons to read Offshore
“Offshore” is not driven by plot, but by its atmosphere and characterisation of the bohemian community afloat on the Thames – a world Penelope Fitzgerald knew well from her own experience living on a sailing barge at Battersea Reach. In 2008, The Times named Fitzgerald among the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. She received numerous literary honours, including the 1979 Booker Prize for “Offshore” and the 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award for “The Blue Flower”. Other notable works by Fitzgerald include “Innocence”, “The Bookshop”, and “The Beginning of Spring”. In 1999, she was awarded the Golden PEN Award for her outstanding contribution to British literature.
Setting: London (England, UK)
Original title: Offshore
Year of publication: 1979
Nr of pages: 181
