Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for All Boats are Sinking by Hannah Pierce and published by Summersdale.
About the Book
All Boats Are Sinking is a memoir of love, life and chaos on a narrowboat, perfect for fans of Dolly Alderton, Helen Fielding and Phoebe Waller-Bridge
“All boats are sinking, Hannah, just at different rates.”
After a break-up, some hit the gym; some cut their hair; others have a one-night stand. In the aftermath of her break-up, Hannah bought a narrowboat.
Newly single and plunged into life on the water, Hannah had to learn quickly how to grapple with exploding toilets, disappearing hulls, and the curious glances and questions from pedestrians on the towpath. But when career burn-out, a global pandemic and an ill-advised rebound relationship threatened to sink her, Hannah felt the need to escape. In a bid to let go of the past and restore her sense of self-worth, she embarked on a narrowboat odyssey which took her from the bustling streets of London to the tranquil yet dramatic waterways of West Yorkshire.
Suffering from an apparent magnetism to drama but buoyed by her brilliant friends, Hannah tells of the challenges of off-grid life as a single 30-something on the water. All this as she tries to balance the tension between owning her singledom and giving in to a deep desire to find love.
Peppered with lists, recipes, maps, footnotes and diagrams, and spanning hundreds of miles of the British waterways, it’s an uplifting and often hilarious story of adventure and personal growth, and of a woman trying to keep her boat and life afloat. And to answer that perennial yes, it’s cold on the boat in winter.
About the Author
Hannah Pierce has worked as an actor, pub manager, events promoter and live music programmer. She wrote, produced and performed in several theatre shows for young people and adults. Her one-woman theatre show on the valiant adventures of an online dater received critical acclaim. This is her first book.
My Review
Her relationship had been unravelling for a while and now it was finished. When there was no more to say, she stood up and left the flat. It was over and untangling thier lives would take time, but in this exact moment, she had nowhere to live. It was time to call on some friends for help.
Piece knew that she would never be able to afford to live in London by herself. Just a flat in certain areas of London costs at least £1200 a month, well beyond her means. Then she remembered her friend, Megan. She had started a theatre company with her a while ago, and while that had now finished, they remained friends, but Megan was living in London on a narrow boat. Perhaps that was an affordable option and a way of staying in London?
She mentioned it to her mum who is slightly aghast at the thought of it. After a little while they come around to the idea, so much so that her dad is doing all sorts of research on narrow boats. The hunt for a suitable boat begins and they find one that looks ideal. So she is the proud owner of Argie Bargie.
Living on a narrow boat brings a lot of delights and an equal number of challenges. One of the conditions of living on the London waterways is that you have to move every fortnight to a new mooring and it has to be a minimum distance away from the previous mooring. She had to do regular maintenance on the vessel, ensure that the prop was clear, learn how to steer the boat and to operate the locks on the canals.
She begins to fall in love with the way of life on the canals. Not only is it a low-cost way of living in the capital, but she starts to form meaningful friendships with other narrowboat owners. Romance is again in the air, as she begins to get involved with one of her managers at work. Life was very much on the up compared to a few months ago.
But life has a way of throwing curve balls. This curveball was one that was going to affect the entire planet. The pandemic had arrived…
The lockdown that was imposed on the country meant that movements on the canal were suspended, she could only move to get waste and dispose of waste. This meant that she could get to know her nautical neighbours so much better. They had each other’s back too, helping where they could in this uncertain time. She was made redundant from her job, but that was then revoked as the company furloughed the staff instead, Life was suddenly very different for her.
Having this extra time gave her time to think about and reconsider lots of things going on in her life. She wanted to head out of London on the canals and go north to visit her brother and his family. She also had to consider her current relationship as the guy she had hooked up with sounded an unpleasant type who was using his senior position to exploit her and others.
I thought that this was an enjoyable book full of Pierce’s watery escapades. Not everything that she does goes smoothly, and that makes for entertaining reading, but she does convey just how much fun it can be on a narrowboat. If you like travel books with more of an emphasis on the people and their relationships and interactions then this book is going to be right up your canal…
Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour
Buy this at your local independent bookshop. If you’re not sure where your nearest is then you can find one here
My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the copy of the book to read.
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