One Summer's Grace : A Family Voyage Round Britain

by Libby Purves

A family voyage round Britain with new Introduction and Afterword

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Libby Purves is a journalist and author who has been writing for The Times since 1982. A previous columnist of the year and author of 12 novels and non-fiction books, she was for 40 years a BBC Radio 4 broadcaster after becoming the Today programme’s first woman and youngest presenter.

Reviews

[Dominique Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a lovely book. Libby Purves and her husband, decide to fulfil an ambition to circumnavigate the coast of Britain in a small yacht, and decide to do it while the kids are small (3 and 5) so it won't impact on their education. They have a fantasy that it will give them quality time together as a family and enable them to bond over an adventure. On their first overnight passage at the start of the 2,000 mile, four month trip, the weather is rough, the children are sobbing and throwing up all night and Libby is ringing vomit out of her 3 year old daughter's nightie and mopping up the floor while the kids beg her to make it stop. The voyage has an unexpectedly negative effect on the kids at times. Their parents thought they'd be young enough to not miss their friends and home, but the children are dreadfully homesick, crying for their friends, their granny, the girls who helped with the childcare, their pets and their house. The boat sometimes feels like a prison and the family wonder if they're going mad, with the father keeping up an insane 4 month long adventure story of pirates and hidden treasure that gets so convoluted none of them can remember all the details. They develop their own language. They invite people to join them for a week here and there to save their sanity. They celebrate the first time that 3 year old Rosie behaves like a human being instead of a heedless little animal. Libby wonders if she's getting depressed, but realises it's probably just exhaustion.
One extremely poignant thing about reading this book so many years after it was written, is the fact that Libby's charming little son, Nicholas, grew up to be a sailor himself and crewed other people's yachts but suffered from an undiagnosed psychotic depression and committed suicide when he was twenty-one. Devestating. Libby put together a radio play based on his diaries in memory of him.
This is a very detailed diary of their journey. You have to either like sailing, or family dynamics, or know at least one stretch of the coast of Great Britain to gain full enjoyment of it. You can stop and start it and forget it for months before coming across it in the pile in the loo and starting it again without spoiling the experience.

[Christina Vale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an amazing and inspirational book that my husband and I, together with our 2 young children (who were aged 3 years old and just 12 months old) decided to undertake the same voyage in the summer of 2000. A great read for families with young children as it shows what can be achieved, rather than thinking that young children make any kind of adventure too difficult.

[LindyLouMac · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/4...

Given to my husband as a gift in 1990 when it was first published in paperback. It has languished on various bookshelves, ever since then waiting for me to get around to reading it!
It is twenty years since the Heiney family Libby, husband Paul, son Nicholas, (now 25) and daughter Rose, (now 23) sailed the 1,700 miles around the coastline of mainland Britain. From May to August of 1988 their home was ‘Grace O’Malley’ while they took a sabbatical from ordinary life. One Summer’s Grace is the memoir of that adventure.
As well as relating the ups and downs of family life in a confined space with a sense of humour, she also relates some interesting historical tales and gives detailed geographical descriptions of places visited during the trip.
It was not an easy journey as living aboard a small boat is hard work even for a full adult crew, but with two children aboard who made work but were unable to reciprocate by helping out much it was doubly hard. So it is no surprise that there were moments during the voyage that Libby and Paul had severe doubts about what they were attempting to achieve.
Achieve it they most certainly did and what an experience. I would though be most interested to know how Nicholas and Rose as adults now look back on the experience.

Update 18/07/08: Apologies but I have only learnt today that Nicholas Heiney died in June 2006 after a battle against depression.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who has lived and sailed with small children on a boat must read this humorous, well written book.

[Tarquilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way Libby Purves writes anyway, but this story of her families summer adventure circumnavigating the British Isles is heart felt. She talks about the places they visit, sailing the boat and family life as they meet this challenge together. She also talks about one of the real treasures of travelling with children: "Nothing kept the children happier or more satisfied than the exotic games and fantasies they developed out of the tales we found them...through stories we make sense of the world."