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Broken Sea: A story of love and intolerance
Broken Sea is a novel, a story of love and of personal identity, which begins in the summer of 1968. Two young people meet by chance and fall in love, but their struggles to understand the depth of their feelings are confounded by international politics. The story explores the emergence of young people's inner worlds in the face of tragedy and personal challenge in the outer world. Roy has just left school at 18 but is still a he has a good heart but very little worldly experience, is far too serious and knows little about girls and sexuality. Then on a short holiday in Wales with his best friend, Paul, they meet Eva and Sally who have summer jobs at a local hotel. Roy immediately finds himself falling in love for the first time with Eva. She finds her feelings torn; she is Czech, in the UK on sabbatical from Prague University, but the Prague Spring is in trouble and she feels that she ought to return home... The story moves between Britain and Czechoslovakia, not only to describe fully the true events of the Warsaw Pact invasion but especially to draw parallels between inner and outer worlds. This has now become a struggle for a newly democratic nation is not tolerated by its neighbours while a young couple's love struggles against the intolerance of the whole world. We cannot know whether this relationship can survive as the stresses of life take their toll. At last, Eva commits herself to Roy and their love develops during one heady year of the late `sixties. However, there is not one character in this story who has not been profoundly changed by the year's events, and perhaps in the end there have been too many things hidden, unsaid or ambiguous...
320 pages, Paperback
Published August 14, 2018
About the author
Nigel Peace
13 books5 followersHello!
My new novel BROKEN SEA, based on personal experiences, is a powerful love story set against the background of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact. In July, I met the love of my life. By August 21st she had been torn away behind closed borders... Would we ever see one another again?
The narrative follows one heady year of the Swinging Sixties, a story about identity (both personal and national) and freedom of self-expression in the face of others' intolerance. The characters are fictionalised but the dramatic political events fully described.
I do hope you enjoy my book. We must remember - and learn from - 1968!
My special interests are in spirituality, consciousness, the I Ching and comedy fiction, though perhaps I’m a rather unusual New Ager, with an academic background in science, maths and philosophy. However... I've also walked with one foot in the quite different world of the paranormal and the decidedly unscientific, blessed with extraordinary prophetic dreams and daily experiences of synchronicity, psychic phenomena and spiritual healing. These things teach us how incredibly powerful the human mind is - we can do magic!
So my book SPIRIT REVELATIONS documents hundreds of examples of precognition and evidence of genuine spiritual guidance, written to encourage everyone trying to live a more meaningful life that we are not alone in our efforts. The book has kindly been endorsed by the world-renowned scientist Dr Rupert Sheldrake as "vivid and fascinating... pioneering research" and was voted second in The People's Book Prize national awards.
I have also studied the amazing I Ching (the Book of Changes) for over thirty years. The oldest title in continuous publication in the world, this oracle reaches to the deepest sources of guidance to help us meet life's challenges. My book LIGHTING THE PATH gives down-to-earth descriptions of the I Ching’s philosophy and of how to use it, with many examples.
But hey, life shouldn’t always be so serious! It is full of joy and we all need entertainment, not to mention an antidote to some of today's frankly silly guru writings. My novel SIGNS OF LIFE is a romp through Heaven and Earth as our heroes set out to sabotage the angels' VERY bad plans for humanity. There are car chases, identity swaps, some SEx and fresh fish, and a very nice dog...
Contact me at my website www.spiritrevelations.com or at my publishing company www.local-legend.co.uk. Thanks for reading!
My new novel BROKEN SEA, based on personal experiences, is a powerful love story set against the background of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact. In July, I met the love of my life. By August 21st she had been torn away behind closed borders... Would we ever see one another again?
The narrative follows one heady year of the Swinging Sixties, a story about identity (both personal and national) and freedom of self-expression in the face of others' intolerance. The characters are fictionalised but the dramatic political events fully described.
I do hope you enjoy my book. We must remember - and learn from - 1968!
My special interests are in spirituality, consciousness, the I Ching and comedy fiction, though perhaps I’m a rather unusual New Ager, with an academic background in science, maths and philosophy. However... I've also walked with one foot in the quite different world of the paranormal and the decidedly unscientific, blessed with extraordinary prophetic dreams and daily experiences of synchronicity, psychic phenomena and spiritual healing. These things teach us how incredibly powerful the human mind is - we can do magic!
So my book SPIRIT REVELATIONS documents hundreds of examples of precognition and evidence of genuine spiritual guidance, written to encourage everyone trying to live a more meaningful life that we are not alone in our efforts. The book has kindly been endorsed by the world-renowned scientist Dr Rupert Sheldrake as "vivid and fascinating... pioneering research" and was voted second in The People's Book Prize national awards.
I have also studied the amazing I Ching (the Book of Changes) for over thirty years. The oldest title in continuous publication in the world, this oracle reaches to the deepest sources of guidance to help us meet life's challenges. My book LIGHTING THE PATH gives down-to-earth descriptions of the I Ching’s philosophy and of how to use it, with many examples.
But hey, life shouldn’t always be so serious! It is full of joy and we all need entertainment, not to mention an antidote to some of today's frankly silly guru writings. My novel SIGNS OF LIFE is a romp through Heaven and Earth as our heroes set out to sabotage the angels' VERY bad plans for humanity. There are car chases, identity swaps, some SEx and fresh fish, and a very nice dog...
Contact me at my website www.spiritrevelations.com or at my publishing company www.local-legend.co.uk. Thanks for reading!
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 16, 2019
Spoilers: The 1960’s were a time when young people all over the world woke up and strove to change the world around them. Of course many know of the American hippies and activists who protested the Vietnam War and campaigned for causes such as civil rights and women and LGBT rights. But they weren't the only ones. The United Kingdom had the mods, rockers, and hippies, young people who rebelled against conformity and embraced the counterculture of the era. France had student riots in May of 1968. Even Communist-era Eastern Europe saw its share of protestors particularly in then-Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring.
The Prague Spring was a period of liberal reform in Czechoslovakia, under strict Communist rule. The Spring lasted from January 5-August 21, 1968. The reforms included loosening of restrictions towards media, speech, and travel and a decentralization of the administrative government. The Soviet government was not happy with the new reforms and in August of 1968 sent Warsaw Pact tanks and troops into end the Spring. The Spring officially ended on August 21, 1968 but many artistic and cultural figures emerged from that time including Milan Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It also produced long-term after effects as many of the people involved in the Velvet Uprising of 1989 that ended Communism forever in Czechoslovakia were also actively involved in the Prague Spring.
Nigel Peace captures that heavy time of student revolt, experimentation, and discovering one's identity in his novel, Broken Sea. Broken Sea involves a love story between a young Englishman and a Czech woman and sees them try to change their worlds and themselves.
Roy comes from a middle class family. He is studying in Manchester to be an engineer, but his heart isn't really into his studies. While vacationing in Wales, Roy encounters Eva, a student from Czechoslovakia who is studying English. The two fall in love and begin an affair in which they are challenged by their changing countries, prejudice from friends and family, and their own perspectives and expectations.
Broken Sea gives us two protagonists that contrast greatly in their backgrounds and outlooks, and both take their own journeys towards self-discovery.
For Eva, her journey is more external. She is involved with the political climate in her country even when she isn't physically there. She is captivated by the independence that she sees among her fellow students and begins to embrace a freer lifestyle including a passionate romance with Roy. However, she still can't get the events from her home country out of her mind.
Every time, Eva returns to her country, it is with a sense of trepidation, fear, and caution over a world that changes so quickly that it's hard to keep up. She sees a friend gain acceptance as a journalist during the Spring and then find his newfound reputation ruined when the tanks go marching in.
In one of several particularly gripping moments, a fellow émigré hears that Eva is returning to Czechoslovakia and asks her to locate her brother. Eva is shocked to learn that the brother was killed in public during a revolt.
The chapters with her and friends and family dealing with the Communist-governed Czechoslovakia are gripping. Tanks roll in. Leaders’ regulations become stricter requiring citizens to follow Communist rule or else. People who were once good friends become spies so it becomes more difficult to express oneself or to trust others.
Eva has a difficult time reconciling the political situation with her independence that she was able to use in England. She feels caught between the world that she once knew and the world that Roy offers and finds it hard to reconcile them.
While Eva's journey deals more with the political hemisphere, Roy's is more internal because it deals with him finding his own place in the world separate from the expectations from his class and family. He studies engineering because his family expects him to, but he is more drawn to philosophical more esoteric paths to knowledge.
Roy gets involved in counter culture ideals like vegetarianism and free love. He is filled with questions about his existence, so he becomes heavily involved in Spiritualism including visiting a creepily accurate medium. He works through his confused feelings with music. (A song for the book is available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pBy...)
Like many young people going off to college and university, Roy is trying to discover himself and in a time like the 1960’s, he experiments. He also finds a creative outlet in his relationship with Eva that allows him to express himself fully.
The romance between Eva and Roy has some sweet moments in which they defend one another in front of critical friends and family members. Even when they are apart, they share an almost psychic sense towards each other. Their romance is almost a release from the tension that they felt when they were surrounded by the political and personal tension.
Most of all Roy and Eva have to navigate through a world of intolerance. Where friends make unkind comments. Where governments can change quickly leaving cruel laws and a battered populace. Where even the slightest cultural difference can lead to a shift in feelings and a rift between lovers. Where sometimes the only thing you can do to fight intolerance is to discover who you really are and what the world around you is really like.
The Prague Spring was a period of liberal reform in Czechoslovakia, under strict Communist rule. The Spring lasted from January 5-August 21, 1968. The reforms included loosening of restrictions towards media, speech, and travel and a decentralization of the administrative government. The Soviet government was not happy with the new reforms and in August of 1968 sent Warsaw Pact tanks and troops into end the Spring. The Spring officially ended on August 21, 1968 but many artistic and cultural figures emerged from that time including Milan Kundera’s novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It also produced long-term after effects as many of the people involved in the Velvet Uprising of 1989 that ended Communism forever in Czechoslovakia were also actively involved in the Prague Spring.
Nigel Peace captures that heavy time of student revolt, experimentation, and discovering one's identity in his novel, Broken Sea. Broken Sea involves a love story between a young Englishman and a Czech woman and sees them try to change their worlds and themselves.
Roy comes from a middle class family. He is studying in Manchester to be an engineer, but his heart isn't really into his studies. While vacationing in Wales, Roy encounters Eva, a student from Czechoslovakia who is studying English. The two fall in love and begin an affair in which they are challenged by their changing countries, prejudice from friends and family, and their own perspectives and expectations.
Broken Sea gives us two protagonists that contrast greatly in their backgrounds and outlooks, and both take their own journeys towards self-discovery.
For Eva, her journey is more external. She is involved with the political climate in her country even when she isn't physically there. She is captivated by the independence that she sees among her fellow students and begins to embrace a freer lifestyle including a passionate romance with Roy. However, she still can't get the events from her home country out of her mind.
Every time, Eva returns to her country, it is with a sense of trepidation, fear, and caution over a world that changes so quickly that it's hard to keep up. She sees a friend gain acceptance as a journalist during the Spring and then find his newfound reputation ruined when the tanks go marching in.
In one of several particularly gripping moments, a fellow émigré hears that Eva is returning to Czechoslovakia and asks her to locate her brother. Eva is shocked to learn that the brother was killed in public during a revolt.
The chapters with her and friends and family dealing with the Communist-governed Czechoslovakia are gripping. Tanks roll in. Leaders’ regulations become stricter requiring citizens to follow Communist rule or else. People who were once good friends become spies so it becomes more difficult to express oneself or to trust others.
Eva has a difficult time reconciling the political situation with her independence that she was able to use in England. She feels caught between the world that she once knew and the world that Roy offers and finds it hard to reconcile them.
While Eva's journey deals more with the political hemisphere, Roy's is more internal because it deals with him finding his own place in the world separate from the expectations from his class and family. He studies engineering because his family expects him to, but he is more drawn to philosophical more esoteric paths to knowledge.
Roy gets involved in counter culture ideals like vegetarianism and free love. He is filled with questions about his existence, so he becomes heavily involved in Spiritualism including visiting a creepily accurate medium. He works through his confused feelings with music. (A song for the book is available on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pBy...)
Like many young people going off to college and university, Roy is trying to discover himself and in a time like the 1960’s, he experiments. He also finds a creative outlet in his relationship with Eva that allows him to express himself fully.
The romance between Eva and Roy has some sweet moments in which they defend one another in front of critical friends and family members. Even when they are apart, they share an almost psychic sense towards each other. Their romance is almost a release from the tension that they felt when they were surrounded by the political and personal tension.
Most of all Roy and Eva have to navigate through a world of intolerance. Where friends make unkind comments. Where governments can change quickly leaving cruel laws and a battered populace. Where even the slightest cultural difference can lead to a shift in feelings and a rift between lovers. Where sometimes the only thing you can do to fight intolerance is to discover who you really are and what the world around you is really like.
December 1, 2019
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: Broken Sea
Author: Nigel Peace
Star Rating: 5 Stars
Number of Readers: 16
Stats
Editing: 9/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 9/10
Cover: 8/10
Of the 16 readers:
16 would read another book by this author.
12 thought the cover was good or excellent.
15 felt it was easy to follow.
16 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 7 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
Of all the readers, 9 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘subject knowledge’.
14 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
16 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
‘Packed full of political tension, the two central characters try to find a way through. The love story is not quite as well-handled as the political intrigue of the time. The author is talented at creating tension and helping the reader to understand the problems of the day.’ Male reader, aged 63
‘Half love story, half historical/political commentary, the author has worked hard to offer the reader a glimpse into life in the 1960s and of the horrors inflicted by communism.’ Female reader, aged 49
‘I didn’t know much about the Warsaw Pack before reading this novel. But I do now! In fact, I enjoyed this book so much, I did a little separate reading of my own. It’s always a good sign when you read a book on a specific topic and it helps to motivate you to ‘further reading’. This is very sympathetically written with emphasis on two central characters and how they are affected by world events. The author has a crisp writing style and plenty to say! I enjoyed it.’ Male reader, aged 38
‘Excellent characterization and a gripping plot. This is excellent historical fiction with strong historical accuracy.’ Female reader, aged 33
To Sum It Up:
‘A gripping study of 1960s life, specifically Czechoslovakia under Communism rule. A FINALST and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Title: Broken Sea
Author: Nigel Peace
Star Rating: 5 Stars
Number of Readers: 16
Stats
Editing: 9/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Content: 9/10
Cover: 8/10
Of the 16 readers:
16 would read another book by this author.
12 thought the cover was good or excellent.
15 felt it was easy to follow.
16 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 7 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘writing style’.
Of all the readers, 9 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘subject knowledge’.
14 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
16 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
‘Packed full of political tension, the two central characters try to find a way through. The love story is not quite as well-handled as the political intrigue of the time. The author is talented at creating tension and helping the reader to understand the problems of the day.’ Male reader, aged 63
‘Half love story, half historical/political commentary, the author has worked hard to offer the reader a glimpse into life in the 1960s and of the horrors inflicted by communism.’ Female reader, aged 49
‘I didn’t know much about the Warsaw Pack before reading this novel. But I do now! In fact, I enjoyed this book so much, I did a little separate reading of my own. It’s always a good sign when you read a book on a specific topic and it helps to motivate you to ‘further reading’. This is very sympathetically written with emphasis on two central characters and how they are affected by world events. The author has a crisp writing style and plenty to say! I enjoyed it.’ Male reader, aged 38
‘Excellent characterization and a gripping plot. This is excellent historical fiction with strong historical accuracy.’ Female reader, aged 33
To Sum It Up:
‘A gripping study of 1960s life, specifically Czechoslovakia under Communism rule. A FINALST and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews