Silent Riders of the Sea

In 1930, Jack the miner is grieving the loss of his young son. In a desperate attempt to escape his misery, he makes the choice to leave. With a motley crew of Scots, he embarks on Arctic fishing with the promise of a better life. John Gerard Fagan, the author of the memoir Fishing Town, takes us on a ride to the Arctic Sea through Jack's battle for survival on a crammed and gruesome ship and inescapable submission to the cruelty of nature and humankind alike. In the background, memories of his life as a miner, while a permanent excruciating pain from mourning his own child lingers. Be ready for a tale of human suffering, violence, and sadness with this story of the hard side of human life told through powerful, yet kind poetry. Silent Riders of the Sea is written with a few Scottish words. This adds a sense of beautiful strange foreign poetry, yet familiar, as an agreeable surprise. John Gerard Fagan renders skilfully with both his watercolours and writing without any punctuation an exceptional engaging sense of watery freedom to the reader who can only get the sensuality of his poetry whatever the feeling of compassion or rejection is felt .