Even in his sleep he longed for the ocean. On the edge of Englands wild North Yorkshire coast, openDemocracy crosses generations in this exclusive of sound, photography and storytelling. Hear Candida Clark read from her acclaimed novel of grief and redemption, The Mariners Star, while her mother, Sally Heywood, evokes the experience of a once-vibrant fishing community and remembers the last of the last.
About the authors
Candida Clark is the author of six novels including The Last Look (1998) and The Constant Eye (2000). She has also written film-scripts, short stories, poetry and criticism.
Sally Heywood is a novelist and playwright. She has published over thirty romantic novels, and her work has appeared in theatre, on TV and radio. 'Bringing the Last Boat Home' was part of the BBC's IGNITE programme, to encourage professional writers to think in terms of sound. She lives in Staithes and London.
Out to sea from Staithes, North Yorkshire
Sally Heywood recorded Bringing the Last Boat Home as part of the BBCs IGNITE programme.
The Mariners Star is a love story and, like all great love stories, a death story... a treat to be lingered over... the writing is so evocative that it feels like being inside a painting... (Geraldine Bedell, The Observer)
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is deputy editor of openDemocracy.
He has written textbooks on human rights and terrorism, and was a contributor to Town and Country (Jonathan Cape, 1998). His work has been published in PN Review,
the Irish Times, El Pais, the Iran Times International, the Canberra Times, the Scotsman, the New Statesman and The Absolute Game.