Offshore
by Penelope Fitzgerald
Summary
A handful of people live on old barges moored at Battersea Reach on the Thames in the early 1960s, neither properly on land nor properly at sea, which is the condition Fitzgerald is writing about. Nenna James has been left by her husband and is raising two daughters aboard, the elder of whom, at twelve, is more competent than any adult present. Richard is a former naval officer who keeps his barge immaculate and is consulted by everyone. Maurice is a rent boy who lets a criminal store stolen goods aboard and cannot bring himself to object.
Almost nothing happens. Tides come in, a barge takes on water, the children go to school irregularly or not at all, Nenna conducts an imaginary cross examination of herself about her marriage, and a house on dry land is inspected and not taken.
Fitzgerald writes in short scenes, very dry, with jokes so quiet they are easy to miss and a complete refusal to explain anyone. The children are the best thing in it, drawn without a trace of sentimentality.
At around 130 pages it is the shortest book ever to win the prize, and it is a novel of atmosphere and displacement rather than event. Readers who want propulsion should look elsewhere. Those who like Barbara Pym or Elizabeth Taylor will find something even better made.
It can be read in two hours, which makes it an unusually low risk way to meet a writer many readers come to late and then read completely. Start here, then read The Blue Flower, which many critics consider her finest.
Historical Context & Significance
Offshore won the Booker Prize in 1979 and remains the shortest winner in the prize's history at around 130 pages, which reopened the perennial question of when a novella becomes a novel.
It was a considerable upset. V.S. Naipaul's A Bend in the River and William Golding's Darkness Visible were the expected winners. One judge, Hilary Spurling, later explained the outcome with unusual candour, saying Golding had the most votes while she held out for Naipaul, so the panel compromised on everybody's second choice.
Penelope Fitzgerald found the attention acutely uncomfortable and was reported to have regarded the reaction as a humiliation. She had begun publishing at fifty eight, drew this novel from the years she actually lived on a Thames barge, which sank twice, and is now regarded as one of the finest English novelists of the century.