Fiction

Making Shore

WINNER, People's Book Prize for Fiction. 'A remarkable imaginative achievement,' Edward Stourton.

Sara Allerton
9781887354929  £8.99

Shortlisted for the Chambery Festival of the First Novel 2012
'A brilliantly conceived story of endurance and romance… It held me enthralled until the last sentence,' Lord Butler
'A powerful and remarkable novel,' The Army Children Archive
'Packs an enormous emotional wallop,' Mark Thornton, Costa First Novel Award judge

Making Shore is a gripping debut novel based on a remarkable true incident in World War II. Merchant seaman Brian Clarke, who sadly passed away in November 2012, shared his reminiscences with author Sara Allerton, and cooperated extensively in the preparation of the book.

Visit the Making Shore Facebook page – details here

Making Shore won the People's Book Prize for fiction 2011! See our blog for more on the awards ceremony. The novel was also shortlisted for the Chambery Festival du Premier Roman (see our news story for further details) and for the Beryl Bainbridge First Novel Award. It was longlisted for the Waverton Good Reads Award 2011.

View this title on Amazon.co.uk or on Amazon.com and find the Kindle UK edition here, Kindle USA edition here. (US visitors: check the reader reviews on the UK site, where there are plenty of detailed comments.)

See an interview with the author and with Brian Clarke:

 
 
 

Read the opening chapter of this extraordinary debut by clicking on the cover here:

Reading groups: some questions and topics for reading groups can be found here.

Torpedoed by a German U-boat, adrift on the open ocean, gravely weakened and slowly dying of thirst - the odds of making shore are lengthening with each gruelling hour. Deliverance from purgatory on a decaying lifeboat will take something far more remarkable than sheer endurance...
 
 

Inspired by a true incident in World War II, from the reminiscences of merchant seaman Brian Clarke.

Praise for this gripping debut:

'A remarkable imaginative achievement... a compelling story' –Edward Stourton

'This is a brilliantly conceived story of endurance and romance, in which Sara Allerton's mastery of detail and sympathy with her characters fully engage the reader.  It held me enthralled until the last sentence.'-Lord Butler of Brockwell

 

'This breathtaking debut novel deals with man's harrowing struggle for survival in a hostile sea, but this book is so much more – a life-affirming account of love, camaraderie, anguish and coming of age, played out against a backdrop of the Atlantic swell.  Making Shore is destined to become a true maritime classic.'
–Angus Konstam, author of 'Sovereigns of the Sea', 'Piracy' and 'Naval Miscellany'

 

 

'I don't cry much over books, but this one brought a great lump to my  throat. It is an extraordinary story – the grim face of war, chirpy unassuming courage, and running through, the need to keep faith whatever the cost. In the end, I did weep, but not from sorrow or despair.' –Andrew Wheatcroft, author of 'The Enemy at the Gate'.
 
 

Order your copy of the original edition here (£9.99 inc P&P within UK - email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for overseas postage cost)

 
'The profoundly moving story of a brotherly bond forged in unimaginable wartime suffering, of the bitterness of a terrible promise honoured, and, above all, of the hope-giving, life-sustaining selflessness of true love. Making Shore is a powerful and remarkable novel.’ -The Army Children Archive
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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