The Seaborne

In a world where climate scientists urge us to simplify our lives and the plight of refugees grows ever more pressing, The Seaborne offers a story about a white, educated, middle-class refugee who is obliged to reduce his carbon footprint to zero. It may be for this reason that the poet and academic, Damian Walford Davies, has described the novel as ʻa parable for our particularly torn times.ʼ

John Finlay is fleeing from failure. His engineering business has failed, his relationship has failed. His flight from debts leads him to disaster - and to the Island, where he must learn to live anew.

Dermot, pulling a body, barely alive, from the water, has never seen anyone so strangely dressed. His Celtic island knows nothing of debt, nor engineering. Where has this man come from?

John struggles to accept that he has been carried across time and into another world - both like and unlike his own. How he got there is a mystery. But John the foreigner must turn slowly into Dhion the Islander. Still, he brings with him unfinished business that must be faced, and ideas that may not always be welcomed. Meanwhile Dermot, consumed with a growing jealousy, develops his own deadly agenda. The whole community finds itself caught up in what becomes a matter of survival - or transformation.

A tale of discovery and reassessment, in which John-Dhion must struggle to find himself, his role, his love and his place in this new, old, world.

A novel of Celtic quantum time that asks us to consider the ways in which we are all born strangers, seaborne foundlings, living between worlds. A parable for our particularly torn times.

Quite captivating. I love the elemental quality and the constant presence of the wild and rugged landscape. The characters are strong and believable. A deep and thought-provoking book.

A beautiful story, imbued with Celtic themes and a deep spirituality. The story unfurls like a flower coming into bloom.

This was such an engaging read. The author does a great job of creating a breathtaking world that draws the reader in and populates it with characters that keep the reader invested throughout.

It is notoriously difficult to create an internally consistent and convincing alternative universe - something I think Rivett has achieved magnificently.

Coaxes us to turn to a simpler, more community-based way of living where there are no or fewer planes in the sky and our lives are forced into simplicity, personal creativity, greater stillness.

I found myself sad when I had to leave the island at the end of the book, because I enjoyed the peace and strength that it lent me.