This was a lovely travel account of Raban’s 1982 journey around the coast of England in a boat, “coasting” from unknown town to remembered city. Raban meets up with friends and strangers and writerly mentors and competitors. For me it was an escape from Trumpism into Thatcherism, because Raban was a keen observer of England at the tipping point from Industrial Revolution to tourism and a global economy. The coal mines were closing, fishing grounds were being taken over by other North Sea countries, and mechanized container ships were taking over the docks. His account is equal parts sea / sky / weather and the mystifying customs of people on land. But it is his keen observations and lyrical descriptions—however sad—that compel the story and the reader on the tide of the book.