What do you think?
Rate this book
A Sea of Straw
Will a man walk two thousand kilometres for a woman? In 1967, Ze will. Salazar's Portugal has become a prison for him.
1966: When Jody, young mother and designer from Manchester, arrives on the Lisbon coast, she brings the lure of 'Swinging London' to Portuguese painter Ze 's existing dreams of freedom. A nascent love is interrupted when, back in England, husband Michael forces her to choose between their 2-year-old daughter Anna and Ze . And Ze, at home in Lisbon and grounded by the state's secret police, can only wait.
For both Jody and Ze, love is revolution. And personal and political threads weave their story, a period piece set amid the then socially conservative North of England, the light and rugged landscapes of modern Portugal, and the darkness of the dying years of Europe's longest-running dictatorship. A Sea of Straw, with its pervading atmosphere of saudades, is a quest for love in revolutionary times.
"
1966: When Jody, young mother and designer from Manchester, arrives on the Lisbon coast, she brings the lure of 'Swinging London' to Portuguese painter Ze 's existing dreams of freedom. A nascent love is interrupted when, back in England, husband Michael forces her to choose between their 2-year-old daughter Anna and Ze . And Ze, at home in Lisbon and grounded by the state's secret police, can only wait.
For both Jody and Ze, love is revolution. And personal and political threads weave their story, a period piece set amid the then socially conservative North of England, the light and rugged landscapes of modern Portugal, and the darkness of the dying years of Europe's longest-running dictatorship. A Sea of Straw, with its pervading atmosphere of saudades, is a quest for love in revolutionary times.
"
292 pages, Paperback
Published October 21, 2016
1 person is currently reading
520 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 15, 2016
Every night on the news borders loom large as a controversial and often explosive theme. People crossing them illegally, people thwarted by them, people incensed that controls aren’t tighter. Borders are what define us and also what hold us back. A Sea of Straw is a novel about both legislative and metaphysical borders, about a world in which freedom of movement is denied.
It’s 1966, the summer of love. Jody, married with a young child, is recuperating from pneumonia in Portugal where she falls in love with Ze, an artist. The novel begins as she’s about to leave and she and Ze are making plans for the future. The novel dramatises the oppressive political and social forces that then stand in their way, like border guards. Portugal, in a time-warp, is in the grip of a totalitarian regime where the Gestapo-like secret police patrol every corner. The dictator, Salazar, we learn, has never been abroad. Basically his government is a prototype for what many far right parties are currently clamouring for all across Europe. Though not an activist himself Ze has many friends who are militantly opposed to the fascist regime. He’s also about to be drafted to fight in Portugal’s colonial wars in Africa. In other words he has virtually no freedom of movement.
Jody, on the other hand, returns to Lancashire faced with the challenge of extricating herself from her loveless marriage and acquiring autonomy. England may be in the midst of a cultural revolution but Manchester seems dour, backward and rife with stifling prejudice, especially contrasted with the vivacious colour and sensuality of Lisbon – the irony of this contrast is portrayed really well. Jody has to face a different, more ostensibly benign kind of censorship and secret policing.
The novel alternates between the experiences of Ze and Jody. In terms of dramatic tension the Portugal sections have the fraught atmosphere of a WW2 novel, except, of course, we’re learning about a different and largely ignored period of history. It’s an incredibly informative account of what was happening in Portugal in 1966-67 but dramatised rather than told. It’s written with love and a painterly attention to detail, the work of a romantic sensibility which reminded me of the wonderful Shirley Hazzard who sadly died this week.
It also must be the first post anti-Brexit novel!
It’s 1966, the summer of love. Jody, married with a young child, is recuperating from pneumonia in Portugal where she falls in love with Ze, an artist. The novel begins as she’s about to leave and she and Ze are making plans for the future. The novel dramatises the oppressive political and social forces that then stand in their way, like border guards. Portugal, in a time-warp, is in the grip of a totalitarian regime where the Gestapo-like secret police patrol every corner. The dictator, Salazar, we learn, has never been abroad. Basically his government is a prototype for what many far right parties are currently clamouring for all across Europe. Though not an activist himself Ze has many friends who are militantly opposed to the fascist regime. He’s also about to be drafted to fight in Portugal’s colonial wars in Africa. In other words he has virtually no freedom of movement.
Jody, on the other hand, returns to Lancashire faced with the challenge of extricating herself from her loveless marriage and acquiring autonomy. England may be in the midst of a cultural revolution but Manchester seems dour, backward and rife with stifling prejudice, especially contrasted with the vivacious colour and sensuality of Lisbon – the irony of this contrast is portrayed really well. Jody has to face a different, more ostensibly benign kind of censorship and secret policing.
The novel alternates between the experiences of Ze and Jody. In terms of dramatic tension the Portugal sections have the fraught atmosphere of a WW2 novel, except, of course, we’re learning about a different and largely ignored period of history. It’s an incredibly informative account of what was happening in Portugal in 1966-67 but dramatised rather than told. It’s written with love and a painterly attention to detail, the work of a romantic sensibility which reminded me of the wonderful Shirley Hazzard who sadly died this week.
It also must be the first post anti-Brexit novel!
August 6, 2017
I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.
This is Julia Sutton’s first novel. It has recently been nominated for the "Not The Booker" prize longlist. Sutton is also an artist. I mention this because her artistic nature clearly influences her writing. Colour is important as she writes. She paints word pictures for us where she gradually fills in details like someone building up a painting. She wants us to be able to see the places and people she describes. This is often a strength in her writing but, for my personal taste, occasionally a weakness when the descriptions become a bit too lengthy.
For the first 50 pages or so, I wasn’t quite sure how this book and I were going to get on. I thought we were heading for a love story and I am not a great fan of romances. Also, I wasn’t quite sure I liked the writing style (continued switching between present and past tense, for example, which has a clear purpose in the structure of the book but I wasn't convinced by). However, once the story settled down, the writing also seemed to become far more consistent (the switching of tenses doesn't stop, but it does seem to become more appropriate - or I got used to it). And this book is actually about far more than just two people who meet while one is on holiday, who fall in love and who then struggle to get back together again. The backdrop is Portugal in the 1960s-1970s. Wikipedia tells me:
The right-wing Estado Novo regime, which ruled the country from 1926 to 1974, suppressed civil liberties and political freedom in the longest-lived dictatorship in Western Europe. It was finally deposed by the Carnation Revolution (Revolução dos Cravos), launched in Lisbon with a military coup on 25 April 1974. The movement was joined by a popular campaign of civil resistance, leading to the fall of the Estado Novo, the restoration of democracy, and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor.
Ze is the Portuguese half of the couple who meet and fall in love. As far as we know, he is not part of the resistance, but, as seems to be the way with these kinds of regimes, that doesn’t stop the authorities from persecuting him. We are witness through Ze’s story to several kinds of oppression including restrictions on movement, forced false confessions through use of torture and a general atmosphere of paranoia in the community.
Back at home, Jody, the other half, feels trapped in a loveless marriage from which she wants to escape to return to Portugal. But she herself is victim of an admittedly less violent version of some the oppression Ze is experiencing in Portugal - she experiences her own version of restrictions on movement, for example.
For much of the first part of the novel, we alternate between Ze in Portugal and Jody in northwest-England. But then Ze makes a dramatic decision and the story focuses solely on him - this is the meat of the story and takes Ze out of Portugal. Without spoiling the story, he does eventually find himself back in Portugal at the time of the Carnation Revolution mentioned above. I will not mention what happens there because that would spoil the story, but I was pleased that the outcome wasn’t the simple one it could have been. Indeed, there’s some ambiguity about the ending which is actually rather satisfying!
I think this period in Portuguese history is not all that well known outside of Portugal. It was certainly something I was only vaguely aware of. This made for an interesting read, but does also mean I have no way to know how accurate the picture Sutton paints is. From the brief background reading I’ve done since finishing the book, it seems to capture the atmosphere of persecution in the country.
The best sections of the book, for me, are those that focus on Ze. Fortunately, there are far more of these than there are of Jody’s sections. It’s not that Jody’s bits are poor, just that I didn’t find them so interesting. Borders are very topical for British people, and for many other nationalities, at the moment (the next book I read will be Exit West, for example), so there’s an added touch of relevance here.
One thing I would be intrigued to know: this book feels almost like it is at least “based on a true story”, if not an actual true story. One way or another, Sutton deserves credit for either telling a true story well or for making me believe that a made up story is a true one.
I’d give this 3.5 stars if that was an option. It isn’t and I don’t think I can go to 4 stars, so it has to be 3.
This is Julia Sutton’s first novel. It has recently been nominated for the "Not The Booker" prize longlist. Sutton is also an artist. I mention this because her artistic nature clearly influences her writing. Colour is important as she writes. She paints word pictures for us where she gradually fills in details like someone building up a painting. She wants us to be able to see the places and people she describes. This is often a strength in her writing but, for my personal taste, occasionally a weakness when the descriptions become a bit too lengthy.
For the first 50 pages or so, I wasn’t quite sure how this book and I were going to get on. I thought we were heading for a love story and I am not a great fan of romances. Also, I wasn’t quite sure I liked the writing style (continued switching between present and past tense, for example, which has a clear purpose in the structure of the book but I wasn't convinced by). However, once the story settled down, the writing also seemed to become far more consistent (the switching of tenses doesn't stop, but it does seem to become more appropriate - or I got used to it). And this book is actually about far more than just two people who meet while one is on holiday, who fall in love and who then struggle to get back together again. The backdrop is Portugal in the 1960s-1970s. Wikipedia tells me:
The right-wing Estado Novo regime, which ruled the country from 1926 to 1974, suppressed civil liberties and political freedom in the longest-lived dictatorship in Western Europe. It was finally deposed by the Carnation Revolution (Revolução dos Cravos), launched in Lisbon with a military coup on 25 April 1974. The movement was joined by a popular campaign of civil resistance, leading to the fall of the Estado Novo, the restoration of democracy, and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies and East Timor.
Ze is the Portuguese half of the couple who meet and fall in love. As far as we know, he is not part of the resistance, but, as seems to be the way with these kinds of regimes, that doesn’t stop the authorities from persecuting him. We are witness through Ze’s story to several kinds of oppression including restrictions on movement, forced false confessions through use of torture and a general atmosphere of paranoia in the community.
Back at home, Jody, the other half, feels trapped in a loveless marriage from which she wants to escape to return to Portugal. But she herself is victim of an admittedly less violent version of some the oppression Ze is experiencing in Portugal - she experiences her own version of restrictions on movement, for example.
For much of the first part of the novel, we alternate between Ze in Portugal and Jody in northwest-England. But then Ze makes a dramatic decision and the story focuses solely on him - this is the meat of the story and takes Ze out of Portugal. Without spoiling the story, he does eventually find himself back in Portugal at the time of the Carnation Revolution mentioned above. I will not mention what happens there because that would spoil the story, but I was pleased that the outcome wasn’t the simple one it could have been. Indeed, there’s some ambiguity about the ending which is actually rather satisfying!
I think this period in Portuguese history is not all that well known outside of Portugal. It was certainly something I was only vaguely aware of. This made for an interesting read, but does also mean I have no way to know how accurate the picture Sutton paints is. From the brief background reading I’ve done since finishing the book, it seems to capture the atmosphere of persecution in the country.
The best sections of the book, for me, are those that focus on Ze. Fortunately, there are far more of these than there are of Jody’s sections. It’s not that Jody’s bits are poor, just that I didn’t find them so interesting. Borders are very topical for British people, and for many other nationalities, at the moment (the next book I read will be Exit West, for example), so there’s an added touch of relevance here.
One thing I would be intrigued to know: this book feels almost like it is at least “based on a true story”, if not an actual true story. One way or another, Sutton deserves credit for either telling a true story well or for making me believe that a made up story is a true one.
I’d give this 3.5 stars if that was an option. It isn’t and I don’t think I can go to 4 stars, so it has to be 3.
October 31, 2016
Fados, border crossings and glorious revolutions
Jody has travelled to Portugal in order to visit her friend Leonora. But it becomes apparent that this is also a holiday from an all too humdrum marriage. Jody wants more from life than just the cycle of putting meals in front of her husband; she wants colour, the space to explore and express her creativity and to once again be her own person. For a moment this all briefly seems possible. Portugal is heat, bright light, foreign scents, sounds, sensations and stimulation. There’s Zé too, the young man who she meets on the beach, with his talk of art, his sudden intensity, charmingly old-fashioned manners, and those sea-coloured eyes. This isn’t just the story of a holiday romance, though. It’s 1966 and this is Salazar’s Portugal. Jody can’t stay and Zé can’t be the person he wants to be here. They must part and this, then, becomes the story of two parallel journeys.
Jody’s Lancashire is drab by contrast to the vibrant colour of the south. As Portugal is in technicolour, so England is still in black and white, is unstretchable social structures and mundane domesticity. For all of its efforts to make the sixties swing, Manchester remains predominantly damp and dour. Jody’s workroom is her place of escape, her space to dream, but the longer that she stays there, the more it seems like a prison cell.
As Jody has the obligations and obstacles of family to negotiate, so Zé is working his way through even greater challenges. He now has to get out. As he travels further into the border territory, who can he trust? Potentially unfriendly eyes and ears are everywhere. Even the landscape itself, at times, seems to be against him. Can he really make it over the mountains and into Spain? And, if he does, will he ever meet Jody again?
Julia Sutton writes with painterly precision. I loved this novel’s sharp-focussed observation and powerful sense of time and of place. I could smell the hot stone, the spices of the markets and feel the prickle of the sun. Heat and colour radiate from the pages. This writing really sings to the senses and I knew, while reading it, that these images would stay with me.
It is more than just a patchwork of pretty sentences, though. The story has an emotional pull and, like all the best journeying novels, an occasional real sense of the epic. It is also, in parts, profoundly sad. Reading Zé’s description of the Coimbra Fado made me want to hear it (note to publisher: surely this novel needs a soundtrack CD?) I found it on YouTube, and also a definition of fado that made me pause: ‘Fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia. This is loosely captured by the Portuguese word saudade, or "longing", symbolizing a feeling of loss (a permanent, irreparable loss and its consequent lifelong damage).’ Those fados wind hauntingly through the text. There’s so much of that saudade in this novel, but also hope, light and beauty.
Aside from the pleasure of the descriptive writing and the emotional tug, this is also a thought-provokingly grown-up novel. Its themes of displacement and creative constriction are all too horribly modern. This is a journey across a Europe that is crisscrossed with (almost) insurmountable borders.
Vibrant, luminous, and full of heat and heart, this is a story that will make you smile, think, reach for the Kleenex, and want to book a holiday in Lisbon.
Jody has travelled to Portugal in order to visit her friend Leonora. But it becomes apparent that this is also a holiday from an all too humdrum marriage. Jody wants more from life than just the cycle of putting meals in front of her husband; she wants colour, the space to explore and express her creativity and to once again be her own person. For a moment this all briefly seems possible. Portugal is heat, bright light, foreign scents, sounds, sensations and stimulation. There’s Zé too, the young man who she meets on the beach, with his talk of art, his sudden intensity, charmingly old-fashioned manners, and those sea-coloured eyes. This isn’t just the story of a holiday romance, though. It’s 1966 and this is Salazar’s Portugal. Jody can’t stay and Zé can’t be the person he wants to be here. They must part and this, then, becomes the story of two parallel journeys.
Jody’s Lancashire is drab by contrast to the vibrant colour of the south. As Portugal is in technicolour, so England is still in black and white, is unstretchable social structures and mundane domesticity. For all of its efforts to make the sixties swing, Manchester remains predominantly damp and dour. Jody’s workroom is her place of escape, her space to dream, but the longer that she stays there, the more it seems like a prison cell.
As Jody has the obligations and obstacles of family to negotiate, so Zé is working his way through even greater challenges. He now has to get out. As he travels further into the border territory, who can he trust? Potentially unfriendly eyes and ears are everywhere. Even the landscape itself, at times, seems to be against him. Can he really make it over the mountains and into Spain? And, if he does, will he ever meet Jody again?
Julia Sutton writes with painterly precision. I loved this novel’s sharp-focussed observation and powerful sense of time and of place. I could smell the hot stone, the spices of the markets and feel the prickle of the sun. Heat and colour radiate from the pages. This writing really sings to the senses and I knew, while reading it, that these images would stay with me.
It is more than just a patchwork of pretty sentences, though. The story has an emotional pull and, like all the best journeying novels, an occasional real sense of the epic. It is also, in parts, profoundly sad. Reading Zé’s description of the Coimbra Fado made me want to hear it (note to publisher: surely this novel needs a soundtrack CD?) I found it on YouTube, and also a definition of fado that made me pause: ‘Fado is a form of music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sentiment of resignation, fatefulness and melancholia. This is loosely captured by the Portuguese word saudade, or "longing", symbolizing a feeling of loss (a permanent, irreparable loss and its consequent lifelong damage).’ Those fados wind hauntingly through the text. There’s so much of that saudade in this novel, but also hope, light and beauty.
Aside from the pleasure of the descriptive writing and the emotional tug, this is also a thought-provokingly grown-up novel. Its themes of displacement and creative constriction are all too horribly modern. This is a journey across a Europe that is crisscrossed with (almost) insurmountable borders.
Vibrant, luminous, and full of heat and heart, this is a story that will make you smile, think, reach for the Kleenex, and want to book a holiday in Lisbon.
Read
January 23, 2017A novel that will stay with you a long, long time.
Everything about this book is precise, emotional and beautifully judged, just like the craftsman’s cobblestones on the cover.
In the mid-60s London is swinging, while Portugal is under the grip of a cruel and controlling dictator. Jody leaves Lancashire for a holiday in the sun. Her interest is in the climate, meteorological, not political. Only when she meets young artist Zé does she realise a fraction of what it means to live under oppression and observation by the secret police.
Their passion thrives amongst the colours, scents and sensations of the beach, but when Jody has to return to monochrome Lancashire and Zé is called to do his military duty, their bond is stretched to breaking point.
This is a love story between two people and one country. Insights on the Salazar regime in such recent history come as a shock, yet the reader basks in the sensory, detailed settings, the gradual growth of our characters and an awareness of being given a Technicolor vision of a time, a place and a human bond.
Superbly written, this story conjures high emotion without mawkish sentiment, and takes you on a journey of extraordinary personal courage.
Everything about this book is precise, emotional and beautifully judged, just like the craftsman’s cobblestones on the cover.
In the mid-60s London is swinging, while Portugal is under the grip of a cruel and controlling dictator. Jody leaves Lancashire for a holiday in the sun. Her interest is in the climate, meteorological, not political. Only when she meets young artist Zé does she realise a fraction of what it means to live under oppression and observation by the secret police.
Their passion thrives amongst the colours, scents and sensations of the beach, but when Jody has to return to monochrome Lancashire and Zé is called to do his military duty, their bond is stretched to breaking point.
This is a love story between two people and one country. Insights on the Salazar regime in such recent history come as a shock, yet the reader basks in the sensory, detailed settings, the gradual growth of our characters and an awareness of being given a Technicolor vision of a time, a place and a human bond.
Superbly written, this story conjures high emotion without mawkish sentiment, and takes you on a journey of extraordinary personal courage.
November 12, 2016
A beautifully written and moving account of the love between a married English woman with a young child and a Portuguese artist. It was quite shocking to learn while we in the UK were enjoying the summer of love, in Portugal a totalitarian government was employing Gestapo-like surveillance and oppression. The obstacles the couple face are dramatically sustained really well throughout the novel. It’s half set against the glowing sensual colours of Portugal and half set against the more dour and bleak monochrome of Lancashire. Essentially it’s an intelligent literary love story which is threatened by the kind of oppressive social and political forces which unfortunately seem to be making a comeback in our modern world.
July 9, 2017
A Sea of Straw by Julia Sutton
Set in two different countries at two different times with two main characters whose paths cross but seem unlikely to cross again, A Sea of Straw engages the mind and the imagination, the intellect and the emotions. Readers will see in it their own struggles for recognition of their very personhood and will recall the birth pangs of many of Europe's newly-formed or reformed societies.
A Sea of Straw is beautifully written in poetic prose frequently reminiscent of some of our favourite elegies. It is sprinkled throughout with wonderfully observant and potent descriptive phrases, as when the two main characters, Jody and Ze, go for a swim, 'Great waves ' steal away 'their voices to toss them back again as echoes from deep inside a vast conch shell'.' Or, when tormented, imprisoned Ze, who has just watched his only visitor leave, 'stares at the vacant spot .... and half rises to see if he left his footprints on the floor.' The inclusion of snatches of Portuguese and French reinforces the sense of time and place, which is very real in the novel, despite the frequent changes, as do tiny gems like 'Mini-skirts dry cleaned 2d an inch'.
Jody is a young married Englishwoman struggling with a life that has so far been ruled by an overbearing family with an authoritative father at the helm. She has been coerced into a marriage that subjects her to more of the same. Her health has been affected and she desperately feels the need to escape. But her personal needs are locked in a struggle with her motherly instincts. Two lives lie in the balance; her child's and her own. If she does what she now knows is right for herself, her own sanity and her fulfilment as a human being, will she be able to do what is right for her daughter?
Ze is a young Portuguese artist whose life so far has been a struggle to survive in a country governed by an overbearing regime led by an authoritative dictator who is backed by a ubiquitous secret police force. It uses coercion, torture and the spectre of almost inevitable death in the ranks of an army fighting colonial wars in foreign lands as a means of controlling free thinking people like Ze. Those who do not die in the wars 'come home broken'.
It is when Jody goes to Portugal, where Ze lives, to recover from debilitating pleurisy that their paths cross. Jody's eyes are opened to her true situation at home, and Ze's eyes are opened to how restrictive the Portuguese regime is and what it is doing to his people. Jody sees how kind and caring Ze is with her daughter, Anna. She sees his family, how welcoming and understanding they are, and how they accept her and Anna without question. So different from her own. Ze sees Jody the woman and mother, but also Jody the person with a mind of her own and the ability to think. They complement one another. It is while Jody is in Portugal that Ze takes her to the estuary where the water is so calm there is a glowing sheen on its sunlit surface, earning it the name Sea of Straw. It is as calm and peaceful as they both want to be.
A Sea of Straw is a novel of two different struggles that run parallel courses. Juxtaposing the struggle for personal freedom and autonomy with the country's struggle for political freedom and loosely tying them together with a romantic thread, means the reader engages with both and achieves deeper levels of empathy. When the novel has been read and the book closed, the feeling left is that this was a good read with real substance to it. It is a feeling that lingers.
Set in two different countries at two different times with two main characters whose paths cross but seem unlikely to cross again, A Sea of Straw engages the mind and the imagination, the intellect and the emotions. Readers will see in it their own struggles for recognition of their very personhood and will recall the birth pangs of many of Europe's newly-formed or reformed societies.
A Sea of Straw is beautifully written in poetic prose frequently reminiscent of some of our favourite elegies. It is sprinkled throughout with wonderfully observant and potent descriptive phrases, as when the two main characters, Jody and Ze, go for a swim, 'Great waves ' steal away 'their voices to toss them back again as echoes from deep inside a vast conch shell'.' Or, when tormented, imprisoned Ze, who has just watched his only visitor leave, 'stares at the vacant spot .... and half rises to see if he left his footprints on the floor.' The inclusion of snatches of Portuguese and French reinforces the sense of time and place, which is very real in the novel, despite the frequent changes, as do tiny gems like 'Mini-skirts dry cleaned 2d an inch'.
Jody is a young married Englishwoman struggling with a life that has so far been ruled by an overbearing family with an authoritative father at the helm. She has been coerced into a marriage that subjects her to more of the same. Her health has been affected and she desperately feels the need to escape. But her personal needs are locked in a struggle with her motherly instincts. Two lives lie in the balance; her child's and her own. If she does what she now knows is right for herself, her own sanity and her fulfilment as a human being, will she be able to do what is right for her daughter?
Ze is a young Portuguese artist whose life so far has been a struggle to survive in a country governed by an overbearing regime led by an authoritative dictator who is backed by a ubiquitous secret police force. It uses coercion, torture and the spectre of almost inevitable death in the ranks of an army fighting colonial wars in foreign lands as a means of controlling free thinking people like Ze. Those who do not die in the wars 'come home broken'.
It is when Jody goes to Portugal, where Ze lives, to recover from debilitating pleurisy that their paths cross. Jody's eyes are opened to her true situation at home, and Ze's eyes are opened to how restrictive the Portuguese regime is and what it is doing to his people. Jody sees how kind and caring Ze is with her daughter, Anna. She sees his family, how welcoming and understanding they are, and how they accept her and Anna without question. So different from her own. Ze sees Jody the woman and mother, but also Jody the person with a mind of her own and the ability to think. They complement one another. It is while Jody is in Portugal that Ze takes her to the estuary where the water is so calm there is a glowing sheen on its sunlit surface, earning it the name Sea of Straw. It is as calm and peaceful as they both want to be.
A Sea of Straw is a novel of two different struggles that run parallel courses. Juxtaposing the struggle for personal freedom and autonomy with the country's struggle for political freedom and loosely tying them together with a romantic thread, means the reader engages with both and achieves deeper levels of empathy. When the novel has been read and the book closed, the feeling left is that this was a good read with real substance to it. It is a feeling that lingers.
December 10, 2016
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I wasn't sure initially that I would enjoy this book, since I am not a reader of romance novels. But this story went beyond romance, beyond a love strong enough to endure separation. This novel was about a man and a nation struggling to be free. Being an American, I was horrified by the level of abuse this man was forced to endure by his country's government. I found myself identifying more with this man, than I could with any other character in the book. Through his eyes, I saw the beauty of his homeland, the strife of it's people, and the very human struggle to simply be free. This was a beautiful book, very much worth reading. I am so glad I won a physical copy of this book, because I want to place it in my own personal library, with the other great novels I have purchased through the years.
Want to read
November 24, 2016I actually couldn't get past the free sample chapters. Too many Portuguese mistakes. Plus, I didn't enjoy the writing style and the voice of the main character.
_______________________
I'm going to read this just because it's set in Portugal. I don't trust non-native authors writing about Portugal. They never get the tone and language right.
_______________________
I'm going to read this just because it's set in Portugal. I don't trust non-native authors writing about Portugal. They never get the tone and language right.
September 16, 2017
*First I want to thank the author, Julia Sutton, for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.*
A Sea of Straw is not just a love story, it is about a man, Ze, who has to deal with a corrupt and horrible regime and a woman, Jody, who must find a way out of an unhappy marriage with a young child to find happiness. These two people meet in Lisbon by chance. What follows in not just a novel packed with romance, but a book that deals with individual heartache, living under the control of a corrupt government, and making difficult decisions that could have repercussions.
Before I get into the things I adore about this books, I would like to point out that you need to give this book about 50-60 pages before you decide to keep reading or not. I had a little bit of difficulty getting into it at first, but when I was able to get past those 50-60 pages I was invested.
A Sea of Straw had a historical background that I am not familiar with myself. This books takes place in Portugal during a period of time it was ruled by a fascist government. If you want a little more detail you can visit these links, Carnation Revolution and European Integration and Carnation Revolution. I do not want to give possible spoilers/information if someone wants to read this book without knowing background of this political time period and how it affected the Portuguese people . I have to say this is the first book in sometime that led me to research a topic on my own, for me this is a huge positive because it shows me how involved I was in the story that I needed to know more.
Another thing I enjoyed about this novel was the fact it showed not only the political tension of what Ze was going through, but it also showed what Jody was going through. Even though it was the 1960s when Jody and Ze met, Jody was still at the mercy of her husband even with the progress made for woman's rights. This books does not shy away from talking about struggle and hardship, but in doing so exposes the reader to what feels like authentic experience.
I have to say that the story Sutton wrote is so believable and raw that you have no choice but be rooting for Ze and Jody. You want them to have the love and life they deserve to have.
Description:
Will a man walk two thousand kilometres for a woman? In 1967, Ze will. Salazar's Portugal has become a prison for him.
1966: When Jody, young mother and designer from Manchester, arrives on the Lisbon coast, she brings the lure of 'Swinging London' to Portuguese painter Ze 's existing dreams of freedom. A nascent love is interrupted when, back in England, husband Michael forces her to choose between their 2-year-old daughter Anna and Ze . And Ze, at home in Lisbon and grounded by the state's secret police, can only wait.
For both Jody and Ze, love is revolution. And personal and political threads weave their story, a period piece set amid the then socially conservative North of England, the light and rugged landscapes of modern Portugal, and the darkness of the dying years of Europe's longest-running dictatorship. A Sea of Straw, with its pervading atmosphere of saudades, is a quest for love in revolutionary times.
-goodreads
Overall, I have to give this book 4 stars. It not only intrigued me enough to do my own research, but this novel is written so well. You feel for the characters as there are small victories and mourn and became angry when things are not working out for them. All I have to say is give a try and read it! I highly doubt you will be disappointed.
A Sea of Straw is not just a love story, it is about a man, Ze, who has to deal with a corrupt and horrible regime and a woman, Jody, who must find a way out of an unhappy marriage with a young child to find happiness. These two people meet in Lisbon by chance. What follows in not just a novel packed with romance, but a book that deals with individual heartache, living under the control of a corrupt government, and making difficult decisions that could have repercussions.
Before I get into the things I adore about this books, I would like to point out that you need to give this book about 50-60 pages before you decide to keep reading or not. I had a little bit of difficulty getting into it at first, but when I was able to get past those 50-60 pages I was invested.
A Sea of Straw had a historical background that I am not familiar with myself. This books takes place in Portugal during a period of time it was ruled by a fascist government. If you want a little more detail you can visit these links, Carnation Revolution and European Integration and Carnation Revolution. I do not want to give possible spoilers/information if someone wants to read this book without knowing background of this political time period and how it affected the Portuguese people . I have to say this is the first book in sometime that led me to research a topic on my own, for me this is a huge positive because it shows me how involved I was in the story that I needed to know more.
Another thing I enjoyed about this novel was the fact it showed not only the political tension of what Ze was going through, but it also showed what Jody was going through. Even though it was the 1960s when Jody and Ze met, Jody was still at the mercy of her husband even with the progress made for woman's rights. This books does not shy away from talking about struggle and hardship, but in doing so exposes the reader to what feels like authentic experience.
I have to say that the story Sutton wrote is so believable and raw that you have no choice but be rooting for Ze and Jody. You want them to have the love and life they deserve to have.
Description:
Will a man walk two thousand kilometres for a woman? In 1967, Ze will. Salazar's Portugal has become a prison for him.
1966: When Jody, young mother and designer from Manchester, arrives on the Lisbon coast, she brings the lure of 'Swinging London' to Portuguese painter Ze 's existing dreams of freedom. A nascent love is interrupted when, back in England, husband Michael forces her to choose between their 2-year-old daughter Anna and Ze . And Ze, at home in Lisbon and grounded by the state's secret police, can only wait.
For both Jody and Ze, love is revolution. And personal and political threads weave their story, a period piece set amid the then socially conservative North of England, the light and rugged landscapes of modern Portugal, and the darkness of the dying years of Europe's longest-running dictatorship. A Sea of Straw, with its pervading atmosphere of saudades, is a quest for love in revolutionary times.
-goodreads
Overall, I have to give this book 4 stars. It not only intrigued me enough to do my own research, but this novel is written so well. You feel for the characters as there are small victories and mourn and became angry when things are not working out for them. All I have to say is give a try and read it! I highly doubt you will be disappointed.
July 24, 2017
Julia Sutton’s debut novel is a gem. The author, also an artist, paints a word portrait with gorgeous yet earthy language, evoking a time and place long past, but still within reach.
While on holiday in Portugal, a chance encounter with a stranger leads the unhappily married Jody into an affair with the enigmatic painter Ze. The first half of the novel is Jody’s point of view. The lovers are recently parted as the story opens, yet Jody had hoped for one last glimpse of Ze before she leaves. She knows he’s afraid, but she’s not sure what of except in the shadow of the civil war with Spain, the secret police are watching everyone.
She returns home to a life that is too tight, too constricted to contain her now. Her unpleasant husband and their families and friends are watching her carefully, too, a smaller reflection of Ze’s life. She struggles to re-acclimate herself to dark, cold Lancashire after long sun-drenched days with Ze.
Jody’s narrative moves forward in time from the start, broken up by her memories of Ze, his friends and family, and his love of culture and of her. The stifling morality of the time, before women’s lib got to Lancashire, reveals itself in the behavior of her family ands some of her friends. Jody re-examines her life and what the future will be like if she doesn’t get back to her real life with Ze.
The second half of the novel is Ze’s narrative. Both lovers conspire to return to the other on the opposite side of the Atlantic, a nearly impossible feat. While Jody is trapped by society’s idea of whom she should be, Ze begins the harrowing and dangerous process of freeing himself to be with her.
Sea of Straw is a literary love story filled with adventure in the shadow of fascist Europe. Unexpected twists and turns keep me turning the pages, as did the author’s portraits of Portugal and Lisbon. I highly recommend this novel
While on holiday in Portugal, a chance encounter with a stranger leads the unhappily married Jody into an affair with the enigmatic painter Ze. The first half of the novel is Jody’s point of view. The lovers are recently parted as the story opens, yet Jody had hoped for one last glimpse of Ze before she leaves. She knows he’s afraid, but she’s not sure what of except in the shadow of the civil war with Spain, the secret police are watching everyone.
She returns home to a life that is too tight, too constricted to contain her now. Her unpleasant husband and their families and friends are watching her carefully, too, a smaller reflection of Ze’s life. She struggles to re-acclimate herself to dark, cold Lancashire after long sun-drenched days with Ze.
Jody’s narrative moves forward in time from the start, broken up by her memories of Ze, his friends and family, and his love of culture and of her. The stifling morality of the time, before women’s lib got to Lancashire, reveals itself in the behavior of her family ands some of her friends. Jody re-examines her life and what the future will be like if she doesn’t get back to her real life with Ze.
The second half of the novel is Ze’s narrative. Both lovers conspire to return to the other on the opposite side of the Atlantic, a nearly impossible feat. While Jody is trapped by society’s idea of whom she should be, Ze begins the harrowing and dangerous process of freeing himself to be with her.
Sea of Straw is a literary love story filled with adventure in the shadow of fascist Europe. Unexpected twists and turns keep me turning the pages, as did the author’s portraits of Portugal and Lisbon. I highly recommend this novel
September 8, 2017
There is much to consider in this debut novel set amidst the politically volatile background of 1960's Portugal and the steadfastness of Northern England, and which looks at a love affair which attempts to survive in a country which is in turmoil.
It's a difficult story to say too much about as I am conscious of not giving anything of the story away so what I will say is this is a well written and astute first novel. It takes a little while to get used to the time switches, moving as it does between different time frames, people and places, but once I had settled into the author's writing style I found that my understanding of the novel became easier. The characters are well developed and believable and such is the draw of the story that I felt like I had gone back in time to an era in history that, regrettably, I knew very little about. Salazar's Portuguese dictatorship as seen through the eyes of the young artist, Ze shows, very eloquently, of the struggle for identity and of the constant threat of fear.
A Sea of Straw is one of those clever stories which makes you think about what has gone before.
It's a difficult story to say too much about as I am conscious of not giving anything of the story away so what I will say is this is a well written and astute first novel. It takes a little while to get used to the time switches, moving as it does between different time frames, people and places, but once I had settled into the author's writing style I found that my understanding of the novel became easier. The characters are well developed and believable and such is the draw of the story that I felt like I had gone back in time to an era in history that, regrettably, I knew very little about. Salazar's Portuguese dictatorship as seen through the eyes of the young artist, Ze shows, very eloquently, of the struggle for identity and of the constant threat of fear.
A Sea of Straw is one of those clever stories which makes you think about what has gone before.
July 20, 2017
In a few words, this book was extraordinary and worthy of a reader's top shelf. Stunning work.
March 12, 2017
I really enjoyed this book, as I knew nothing about the revolution in Portugal, not even that it happened, so found that side of it fascinating. I also appreciated the links with Manchester.
March 18, 2018
Julia Sutton brings a painter's sense of place and a historian's sweeping sense of time to A Sea of Straw. This novel is engaging and immersive, drawing the reader into the lives of Jody and Ze, revealing the very different restrictions that stand in their way. A haunting debut.
January 7, 2018
1966, Jody, a Manchester designer, and her baby girl Anna come to Lisbon to enjoy themselves far away from her estranged husband. When she meets the Portuguese painter Zé, she immediately falls for him. Soon they are making plans even though Zé is supposed to join the military, but he is positive that his father can bail him out. Jody and Anna need to return to England, but this is only meant for leaving her husband finally and packing her belongings before she can ultimately settle in Lisbon. Zé is waiting for her, but she never embarks the ferry she is supposed to take. Zé is desperate, not only because of longing for Jody but also for wanting to escape from the approaching date of his marching order. He does not want to become a supporter of the Salazar system; thus he decides the risky way across the border to join Jody in England.
Julia Sutton’s novel is set against the complicate political situation in Portugal at the end of the 1960s. Even though the protagonist Zé seems to be a bit naive and not a leader of any underground movement to overthrow the oppressive system, you get an insight in how the rulers and especially the secret service worked at the time. Even though the love story is the main motor to drive the story, the political aspects dominate over large parts of the story.
It is especially the moment when Zé is captured by PIDE that the novel becomes most interesting and convincing. What he experiences in prison, the treatment and methods of making prisoners not only betray their friends and comrades but also how they are tricked and how little a human life is worth – repellent and disgusting. However, this is neither unusual nor especially brutal, it is just how these kind of systems work.
On the other hand, I found the societal or rather familial pressure which Jody experiences back in England almost as cruel as what Zé suffers in Portugal. How clearly her husband makes decisions and can enforce them – unbelievable for us today, but in the 1960s women were far from enjoying the rights they do today.
Even though the novel had many though-provoking aspects and was surely well researched, I found it was a bit long drawn-out at times and going round in circles. It lacked a bit of focus, was it meant to tell or love story or rather depict life in Portugal under the Salazar regime or show how limited female freedom was at that time? The author seems to be a bit undecided about it.
Julia Sutton’s novel is set against the complicate political situation in Portugal at the end of the 1960s. Even though the protagonist Zé seems to be a bit naive and not a leader of any underground movement to overthrow the oppressive system, you get an insight in how the rulers and especially the secret service worked at the time. Even though the love story is the main motor to drive the story, the political aspects dominate over large parts of the story.
It is especially the moment when Zé is captured by PIDE that the novel becomes most interesting and convincing. What he experiences in prison, the treatment and methods of making prisoners not only betray their friends and comrades but also how they are tricked and how little a human life is worth – repellent and disgusting. However, this is neither unusual nor especially brutal, it is just how these kind of systems work.
On the other hand, I found the societal or rather familial pressure which Jody experiences back in England almost as cruel as what Zé suffers in Portugal. How clearly her husband makes decisions and can enforce them – unbelievable for us today, but in the 1960s women were far from enjoying the rights they do today.
Even though the novel had many though-provoking aspects and was surely well researched, I found it was a bit long drawn-out at times and going round in circles. It lacked a bit of focus, was it meant to tell or love story or rather depict life in Portugal under the Salazar regime or show how limited female freedom was at that time? The author seems to be a bit undecided about it.
June 21, 2018
Jody leaves her husband in their Lancashire home as she travels to her friend in Portugal with her daughter Anna in order to recuperate from an illness. It is the mid-sixties and although London is swinging, Lancashire is grey and dismal and although Jody has freedom she is trapped in a soulless marriage where men still very much rule the roost. Jody is creative and loves colour – and Portugal is a riot of colour and when she meets Ze, an artist, they fall in love.
Although Portugal is colourful it is under a fascist regime and Ze dreads conscription into the army where he will be drafted to Africa.
It is this juxtaposition that is the most interesting. Anna’s interpretation of freedom as opposed to Ze’s reality of freedom – both have a life that is circumscribed by others, duty and custom.
This is a love story but set against the political background of Portugal, a history I was unaware of so this added a great deal to my enjoyment (together with sadness) of this component.
This is beautifully written, very literary and very lyrical, but unfortunately for me, just not quite there. I just didn’t feel it.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.
Although Portugal is colourful it is under a fascist regime and Ze dreads conscription into the army where he will be drafted to Africa.
It is this juxtaposition that is the most interesting. Anna’s interpretation of freedom as opposed to Ze’s reality of freedom – both have a life that is circumscribed by others, duty and custom.
This is a love story but set against the political background of Portugal, a history I was unaware of so this added a great deal to my enjoyment (together with sadness) of this component.
This is beautifully written, very literary and very lyrical, but unfortunately for me, just not quite there. I just didn’t feel it.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews