|
|
|
|
The Shadow in the SandsBy Sam LlewellynExcerpted from Good Old Boat, May/June 2001: “Reading Erskine Childers' classic marine spy novel, The Riddle of the Sands, is not a prerequisite for enjoying Sam Llewellyn's new sequel, The Shadow in the Sands, but it will enhance your enjoyment of it. “Set in the German lowlands on the North Sea in 1903, The Shadow in the Sands picks up the plot where Riddle left off. The Germans are planning an invasion of England using the shallow, commercially insignificant but unmonitored harbors of the East Friesland region. Carruthers, one of the two main characters in The Riddle of the Sands, has circulated stories of German activities in the region to the British Admiralty and English press, but there is little concern over the reports. “One person who takes the reports seriously is the Duke of Leominster. Funded by the Duke, a three-man team, disguised as bird-watching yachtsmen, is dispatched to the German coast to confirm the military activities. A complicated series of events follows. “Those who read both books in sequence will recognize the dramatic contrast in the styles of the two works. The Riddle of the Sands was published in 1903 about events that took place in 1902. The Shadow of the Sands continues the story in 1903 but was published in 1998. Literary styles and expectations for adventure stories have changed significantly in the nearly 100 years between their publication dates. “In the original, the most dramatic events are tame by today's standards. In Llewellyn's sequel, the reader witnesses a beating, a murder, two sexual encounters, and a collision with the Kaiser's yachts, all in the first 75 pages, before the real action begins.” Excerpted from Sailing Magazine, January 2000: “Riddle of The Sands, Erskine Childers' classic novel about adventure on the high seas and an ordinary man swept up in extraordinary events, has been a favorite since it was published in 1903. Now British novelist Sam Llewellyn has created another adventure entitled The Shadow in the Sands, which picks up where Childers' novel left off. “Llewellyn's story is about a seemingly common Englishman named Charlie Webb, born and raised in a poor fishing village in England's Norfolk country, where the surrounding landscape is as flat and featureless as the sea itself. “Fearing for his future as a fisherman – always cold, always in debt and dying young – Webb's story begins as he antagonizes the local lord and then learns to sail on local fishing boats. Eventually he becomes a first-rate sailor and 'turns pro,' first as a deckhand and eventually as skipper of a race boat owned by one of the English gentry. At one point, in a race against Kaiser Wilhelm's METEOR, Webb, having the right of way, holds his course and is rammed by the kaiser, who is not accustomed to giving way to anyone. “Later, Webb finds himself blackmailed into accepting a position on a sailboat that is ostensibly going to look for sunken treasure, but is, in fact, investigating and attempting to sabotage the planned German invasion of England, a scheme that is foretold in Riddle of The Sands. The invasion is going to be launched from the harbors hidden among the immense tidal flats of Friesland, in northwest Germany, and as the story progresses, it is up to Webb to foil the Germans and save England (not to mention falling and out of love several times, and exhibit some first-class seamanship). “The tidal areas where most of the action occurs are a place of constant change. The depths differ by the minute, and bubbling tidal streams flow one way, stall, and then reverse with equal intensity. Webb is as intimate with these cycles as he is with navigation, and knows to the day when a certain spot will be navigable. “Llewellyn gives Webb a broad Norfolk dialect that is true to vocabulary and syntax, although it may require some re-reading at times to be fully understood. Rarely does Llewellyn misspell words, as Mark Twain and D.H. Lawrence have been criticized for; rather, he allows the reader to ‘hear’ the dialect by his choice of words and the sentence structure. It is effective and allows Webb to speak in a distinct manner, differentiating him from the posh-accented, midlevel gentry who employ him. It also helps Llewellyn highlight Webb's place in the English class system, which was in full force up to World War I and comes in for some severe criticism in the course of the novel. “Is it necessary to read (or re-read) Riddle of The Sands first? No, The Shadow in the Sands can stand alone, and although I read Childers' book years ago, I deliberately did not look at it again until I had read Llewellyn's latest. One good book definitely deserves another, and Llewellyn has written just that – another good book.”
Return to Top |
| HOME PAGE | SEARCH | E-MAIL US | HOW TO ORDER |