The Offing

A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick

Set during a blazing summer in the wake of the Second World War, The Offing recounts a tender story of love and friendship between a teenage miner and an eccentric older woman. Evoking the striking landscapes of the Durham Coast, Myer’s novel is an enthralling depiction of the journey from adolescence into adulthood.

One summer following the Second World War, Robert Appleyard sets out on foot from his Durham village. Sixteen and the son of a coal miner, he makes his way across the northern countryside until he reaches the former smuggling village of Robin Hood’s Bay.

There he meets Dulcie, an eccentric, worldly, older woman who lives in a ramshackle cottage facing out to sea. Staying with Dulcie, Robert’s life opens into one of rich food, sea-swimming, sunburn and poetry. The two come from different worlds, yet as the summer months pass, they form an unlikely friendship that will profoundly alter their futures.

‘What a radical thing, these days, to have written a book so full of warmth and kindness … Gorgeous’ – Max Porter, author of Lanny

‘Glorious … Leaves an indelible impression … A moving and subtle novel in many ways, infused with a love of the minute pleasures in life, and the lasting regrets’ – Scotland on Sunday