My Sand Life My Pebble Life by Ian McMillan ( Adlard Coles, 2024)
Fiction
My Sand Life, My Pebble Life by Ian McMillan, poet, journalist and broadcaster (ISBN: 9781472982940) This slim “memoir of a childhood and the sea” would be a wonderful companion for anyone heading to the coast this summer. You can hear the Yorkshire poet in the prose,and the noise of the sea and seaside in every page. By way of an example, having confessed to being a wanderer rather than a sailor, Ian on one occasion nevertheless finds himself on a small boat in a ‘lumpy’ sea off the west coast of Scotland: “The wave rushed towards us as though it was pleased to see us. It slapped the boat like we were a fly and it was a swatter. We roller-coastered around and my hearty breakfast planned hearty revenge”. Yup – I’ve been in such a boat on a very similar sea.