A Summer at Sea

Author/Guide: Katie Fforde

Why a Booktrail?

2000s: Summer at sea with Katie Fforde sounds like a lovely way to explore the islands of Scotland!

ISBN: 978-1780890852
Genre: Humour, Romance

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What you need to know before your trail

Emily works as a midwife and loves her job but can’t help feeling that she needs a little change – a bit of fresh air if you will. Best friend Rebecca soon comes to the rescue with a proposal of spending some time of a puffer boat up in Scotland. Well, Emily thinks this is just what they need and so the two friends head up north.

Life on the ocean sea – well a boat just off the coast of Crinan – is not easy however. Rebecca is heavily pregnant and so can’t do much of the heavy work of course, and the girl who will be helping Emily is a bit competitive. And then in walks something the doctor ordered – the doctor himself by the name of Alasdair, who could prove to be quite the tonic himself.

Locations

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Travel Guide

Fancy fishing and cooking on a boat in Scotland? A puffer boat or the Vic 32 Puffer built in 1942 to be precise which is the star of this story.

Not quite the setting that a midwife from Gloucestershire would be expected to adapt to quickly but Emily is keen to get away and really it seems so far removed from her former life that it could just be exactly what she needs! Cooking for a few people however is not as easy as she hoped it would be however but the views and the fresh food more than make up for it.

The boat is quite the place to be and ideal to experience the Scottish Coast:

It’s a boat, an old cargo vessel. It used to carry cargoes all around the Highlands and Islands in the old days. Now it’s a sort of Floating hotel. People go on it for holidays”

This boat was built during WW2 and was a delivery ship carrying supplies up and down the coast. Now, there were wooden stairs, a long polished mahogany table and comfy looking cushions. Oh and that’s not forgetting the views you can drink in

Then there’s the knitting!

Lovely old Maisie introduces Emily to fair isle knitting – a real and vibrant tradition on the West Coast which brings out another part of the Scottish setting. As Emily travels more, she sees more of the Scottish coastline and really starts to see her life now and then change too.

Streetview Maps

A Crinan Harbour

b) A Puffer Boat

Booktrailer Review

Susan: @thebooktrailer

Summer at sea with Katie Fforde sounds like a lovely way to explore the islands of Scotland!

Fancy fishing and cooking on a boat in Scotland? A puffer boat or the Vic 32 Puffer built in 1942 to be precise which is the star of this story.

Not quite the setting that a midwife from Gloucestershire would be expected to adapt to quickly but Emily is keen to get away and really it seems so far removed from her former life that it could just be exactly what she needs! Cooking for a few people however is not as easy as she hoped it would be however but the views and the fresh food more than make up for it.

The boat is quite the place to be and ideal to experience the Scottish Coast:

It’s a boat, an old cargo vessel. It used to carry cargoes all around the Highlands and Islands in the old days. Now it’s a sort of Floating hotel. People go on it for holidays”

This boat was built during WW2 and was a delivery ship carrying supplies up and down the coast. Now, there were wooden stairs, a long polished mahogany table and comfy looking cushions. Oh and that’s not forgetting the views you can drink in

Then there’s the knitting!

Lovely old Maisie introduces Emily to fair isle knitting – a real and vibrant tradition on the West Coast which brings out another part of the Scottish setting. As Emily travels more, she sees more of the Scottish coastline and really starts to see her life now and then change too.

This is a lot of fun and follows the story of a midwife too and it was interesting to find out more about this profession too but it’s the whole life at sea that really makes the book for me. The book is based in Crinnan where you really can have holidays in a puffer boat and we’ve mapped out the locations on thebooktrail.com – this side of Argyll and Bute is really love to visit via fiction before I get the chance to go back for real – with this book in my hand!