Sea State
‘Sea State marks the arrival of a gifted and exciting new voice’ Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13
SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZE
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PORTICO PRIZE
A GUARDIAN BEST BOOK OF 2021
’It’s extraordinary. It takes you places so few books do’Observer
‘Acidic, addictive reporting with a fictional veneer. Sea State’s writing alone is worth the admission price’Financial Times
Tabitha Lasley left her job, her relationship and London, and headed to Aberdeen to meet offshore oil rig workers. She wanted to see what men are like with no women around. She soon finds out what she is like with no one else around, save for itinerant men who spend half their lives stranded in the middle of the sea. Alone, and contemplating the wreckage of her former life, she dives into a relationship with the first rig worker she meets, a reckless affair that lays them both bare.
‘She has the skill, a Joan Didion kind of skill, of inflecting non-fiction material subjectively, a habit of assessing situations via her nervous system’ Andrew O’Hagan, author of Mayflies
'A breathtaking memoir … The prose is stunning: gimlet-eyed and brutal' Tomiwa Owolade, Sunday Times, Books of the Year -
”'Contemporary writing at its finest, without any hint of effort, egoism or pretentiousness on Lasley’s part. She is an astoundingly good writer, and this is an astoundingly good book” - Irish Times
”'These are powerful and moving stories of working lives in a dangerous and all-male environment, made all the more powerful by the way Lasley refuses to absent herself from the telling. The writing is carefully and unobtrusively polished, with hard edges and unflinching clarity … Sea State marks the arrival of a gifted and exciting new voice” - Jon McGregor, author of Reservoir 13
”'It’s extraordinary. It takes you places so few books do … it gets inside the heads that are mostly ignored by publishing” - Observer
”'A startlingly original study of love, masculinity and the cost of a profession that few outside of it can truly understand” - Guardian
”'She has the skill, a Joan Didion kind of skill, of inflecting non-fiction material subjectively, a habit of assessing situations via her nervous system … Sea State has all the presentness of fiction, as well as the exactitude of the non-fiction novel and the gleam of confession” - Andrew O’Hagan, author of Mayflies, LRB
”'Acidic, addictive reporting with a fictional veneer. Sea State’s writing alone is worth the admission price” - Financial Times
”'A powerful blend of journalism and memoir … Beautifully written, disquieting, it reminds me of Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women” - David Nicholls, author of Sweet Sorrow
'Piercing, brutally candid, addictive. A memoir like no other … If you were gripped by Lisa Taddeo's Three Women, this is for you' Rachel Cooke, author of Her Brilliant Career -
”'Incredibly compelling” - Sarah Hall, author of Burntcoat