Thundery at Times

LoveReading Says

There is something profound about inheriting someone else’s dreams. You are occupying their alternative future, hand in glove, soul on soul, carrying forward a life that might have been. That is the challenging position Katie Carr finds herself in after the death of her brother Toby. Having already undertaken the painstaking task of bringing his unfinished book (Moderate Becoming Good Later) to publication, she sets herself an even more daunting challenge and picks up a paddle to complete the remaining areas of the Shipping Forecast that Toby never had the chance to visit.

So off she floats - across Lundy, Fastnet, Rockall.. places familiar to our ears through radio’s Shipping Forecast but mostly only visited by trawlers, whales and cold winds. The physical demands of this journey are apparent throughout, but constantly bubbling to the surface is the real exploration that Katie is making - one of grief, family and purpose.

Katie is a novice when it comes to kayaking though she does have reasonable sea legs thanks to her family’s love of boats. Nevertheless that process of technical learning is another layer of narrative, and almost immediately she finds herself capsized in an Irish sea cave. Every mistake, every moment of jeopardy reminds her of Toby’s expertise on the water and leaves her wrestling with imposter syndrome. Katie is acutely aware that Toby was the adventurer, the detailed note-taker and the free-spirited person whose mission captured people’s imaginations.

These doubts give Thundery at Times much of its emotional power, and the spectacular seascapes around Britain provide the perfect theatre. While Toby seems present throughout, like a guiding light, chapter by chapter we see his story slowly becoming a story that Katie herself can rightly own. It’s one of courage, resilience and the difficult process of finding confidence in yourself while moving onwards in the wake of someone you loved.

Greg Hackett

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