WATCHERS ON THE SHORE

by Stan Barstow ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 16, 1967

This is a sequel to Barstow's fine first novel, A Kind of Loving, though it can be read independently. Ingrid and Vic have been married now for four years and Vic has made at least a tentative accommodation to the fact that their marriage was forced on him. Ingrid has lost the baby she conceived out of wedlock and though she is not the girl Vic would have wanted under normal circumstances, he continues to try to make a go of it just because it appears to him to be the right thing to do. He's offered a job near London which will take them away from the Yorkshire industrial town where they have always lived. Vic is anxious to make a new start but Ingrid is reluctant to leave familiar surroundings. He goes on ahead and in the process of getting established falls genuinely in love with a young actress with whom he has an affair. But she breaks off with him because of another man and Vic, in turn, finally leaves Ingrid. He can't settle for what he doesn't want and vaguely he feels that his confrontation with the reality of experience is not yet behind him. Barstow is a gifted writer and has an ingratiating, straight-forward style which leads the reader to sympathize with his main character and with his own estimation of things.

Pub Date: June 16, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION