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One Boat: A Novel
Longlisted for The Booker Prize 2025
“Buckley creates a novel of quiet brilliance and sly humour, packed with mystery and indeterminacy.”—The Booker Prize judges
After losing her father, Teresa returns to a small town on the Greek coast—the same place she visited when grieving her mother nine years ago. Soon, she encounters some of the people she met last time John, a man struggling to come to terms with the violent death of his nephew; Petros, an eccentric mechanic whose story may have something to do with John's; Niko, a local diving instructor; and Xanthe, a waitress in one of the cafés on the leafy town square. They talk about their longings, regrets, the passing of time, and their sense of who they are. Artfully constructed, absorbing, and insightful, One Boat is a brilliant novel grappling with questions of identity, free will, guilt, and responsibility.
“Buckley creates a novel of quiet brilliance and sly humour, packed with mystery and indeterminacy.”—The Booker Prize judges
After losing her father, Teresa returns to a small town on the Greek coast—the same place she visited when grieving her mother nine years ago. Soon, she encounters some of the people she met last time John, a man struggling to come to terms with the violent death of his nephew; Petros, an eccentric mechanic whose story may have something to do with John's; Niko, a local diving instructor; and Xanthe, a waitress in one of the cafés on the leafy town square. They talk about their longings, regrets, the passing of time, and their sense of who they are. Artfully constructed, absorbing, and insightful, One Boat is a brilliant novel grappling with questions of identity, free will, guilt, and responsibility.
162 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2025
About the author
Jonathan Buckley
74 books58 followersJonathan Buckley was born in Birmingham, grew up in Dudley, and studied English Literature at Sussex University, where he stayed on to take an MA. From there he moved to King’s College, London, where he researched the work of the Scottish poet/artist Ian Hamilton Finlay. After working as a university tutor, stage hand, maker of theatrical sets and props, bookshop manager, decorator and builder, he was commissioned in 1987 to write the Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto.
He went on to become an editorial director at Rough Guides, and to write further guidebooks on Tuscany & Umbria and Florence, as well as contributing to the Rough Guide to Classical Music and Rough Guide to Opera.
His first novel, The Biography of Thomas Lang, was published by Fourth Estate in 1997. It was followed by Xerxes (1999), Ghost MacIndoe (2001), Invisible (2004), So He Takes The Dog (2006), Contact (2010) and Telescope (2011). His eighth novel, Nostalgia, was published in 2013.
From 2003 to 2005 he held a Royal Literary Fund fellowship at the University of Sussex, and from 2007 to 2011 was an Advisory Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, for whom he convenes a reading group in Brighton.
He went on to become an editorial director at Rough Guides, and to write further guidebooks on Tuscany & Umbria and Florence, as well as contributing to the Rough Guide to Classical Music and Rough Guide to Opera.
His first novel, The Biography of Thomas Lang, was published by Fourth Estate in 1997. It was followed by Xerxes (1999), Ghost MacIndoe (2001), Invisible (2004), So He Takes The Dog (2006), Contact (2010) and Telescope (2011). His eighth novel, Nostalgia, was published in 2013.
From 2003 to 2005 he held a Royal Literary Fund fellowship at the University of Sussex, and from 2007 to 2011 was an Advisory Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, for whom he convenes a reading group in Brighton.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 5, 2026
I hoped for so much more out of this Booker long lister. At a minimum, I wanted it to take me to Greece. But the book could have been set anywhere - the setting did not advance the plot and the imagery did not substantially support the book’s themes.
The narrator and her diaries annoyed me. But the premise of the book was creative and does have potential. And it contained some nice descriptions of the scenery.
The narrator and her diaries annoyed me. But the premise of the book was creative and does have potential. And it contained some nice descriptions of the scenery.
Displaying 1 of 1 review