The Seiners

Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1900. The mackerel season is approaching, and the seiners are preparing their boats for one of the most dangerous fisheries in America. At the center is Maurice Blake, a once-renowned skipper whose confidence has eroded under the weight of professional rivalry and private disappointment. As the fleet readies for departure, Blake must navigate treacherous waters both literal and emotional: the simmering resentments among his crew, the competitive scheming of rival captains, and the tentative arrival of romance into his battered life. Connolly renders the fishing community with documentary precision and raw energy, capturing the particular music of Gloucester's dialect, the brutal physicality of the work, and the code of silence that binds men together against the sea. This is a novel about men who stare down death for a living and the small, fragile things that make them want to return to shore.