A Distant Shore

The English village is a place where people come to lick their wounds. Dorothy has walked away from a bad thirty-year marriage, an affair gone sour and a dangerous obsession. Unable to cope with the change from the civility of life as a teacher in a grammar school to the democratic brutishness of a comprehensive, she has taken early retirement. Between her visits to the doctor and the music lessons she gives to bored teenagers, she is trying to rebuild a life. Her neighbour seems concerned to conceal his past behind a facade of impeccable manners. It's not immediately clear why Solomon is living in the village, but his African origin suggests a complex history that is at odds with his dull routine of washing the car and making short trips to the local supermarket. Though all he has in common with the English is a shared language, it soon becomes clear that Solomon hopes that his new country will provide him with a safe haven in which he might enjoy the decent behaviour and graciousness that he believes the English habitually practice. Gradually they establish a form of comfort in each other's presence that alleviates the isolation they both feel. A Distant Shore is a masterful novel and a brilliant exploration of an England that is changing beyond measure as the world outside its borders intrudes.

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Caryl Phillips was born in St Kitts and now lives in London and New York. He has written for television, radio, theatre and cinema and is the author of two works of non-fiction and six novels. Crossing the River was shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize and he has won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the James Tate Black Memorial Prize, as well as being named the Sunday Times Writer of the Year 1992 and one of the Best of Young British Writers 1993. His most recent publication was the collection of essays A New World Order.

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