The last boat: a 'Shorelines' soundscape

“Even in his sleep he longed for the ocean”. On the edge of England’s 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 Mariner’s 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.

(c) Candida Clark
Out to sea from Staithes, North Yorkshire

Sally Heywood recorded Bringing the Last Boat Home as part of the BBC’s IGNITE programme.

Click here to listen


The Mariner’s 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)

Listen to Candida Clark read Chapter 1 of The Mariner’s Star

(c) Candida Clark
North Yorkshire coast

Click here for Chapter 2 of The Mariner’s Star

(c) Candida Clark
Staithes, North Yorkshire

Candida Clark will be reading from her forthcoming novel A House of Light (
Headline Press, January 2005) at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. For more information, and to book tickets, click here.

Photographs taken by Candida Clark

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