Town Is by the Sea

Product Information

For such a dark concept it’s not a dark book. When my husband and I read this book to our six-year-old and three-year-old they seemed more intrigued by the fact that a kid could walk by himself to the store (this is the 50s’ after all) than the fact that someday that boy will work all day in the claustrophobic dark below the sea. Indeed I was intrigued to find that the chilling final lines of the picture book sink far deeper into the psyches of the adults reading this book than the kids. But I like that Joanne Schwartz does not judge the workers or the town. The inevitability of becoming a miner isn’t delivered by the young protagonist with anything more than simple honesty. Just listen to those final lines: “I’m a miner’s son. In my town, that’s the way it goes.” The dread I felt when he alluded to his future was purely personal, helped in no small part by Schwartz & Smith’s clever pairing of sunlight and gloom throughout the book. You might not want to work down there, but when your future is set in stone it’s hard to think outside the box. There’s a quote that Schwartz includes in her Author’s Note from Robert McIntosh’s Boys in the Pits: Child Labour in the Coal Mines that summarizes this perfectly. “The boy may have seen for years his father and older brothers leave for the pit. For most boys raised within these communities, the day arrived when they too surrendered their childhood to it.” In this Soundworlds production, we follow Davey as he describes his daily routine: from waking up with the sea sparkling outside his window, to playing with his friends, buying groceries for his mother, and visiting his grandfather’s grave. Throughout the day, his thoughts keep returning to his father, working in the coal mines deep beneath the town. This expansive, airy book is full of the sights, sounds and smells of summer. The boy spends his day roaming the clifftops, running errands for his mother and playing with friends. He doesn’t forget the sea, though. How could he? As he keeps reminding us, deep beneath it is his father, digging for coal.

Observant readers will spot more than we’re being told. There’s a problem in the tunnel: will Father come home? The tension is subtle and swiftly relieved, but the shadows this book casts are real. The boy and his friend will go down the pit, just like their fathers and grandfathers before them, because ‘that’s the way it goes.’ And once the dazzling summer light has faded, we’re left to wonder what became of our narrator and all the other boys like him.From arty enclaves in Cornwall and characterful Welsh fishing towns to picture-perfect Scottish coves, the UK’s seaside communities are as diverse and uncategorisable as they are naturally spectacular. You can leave your clichés of miserable weatehr and greasy chippies inland – here you’ll find cutting-edge museums, destination restaurants and plenty of sun, sand and fresh sea air.Here are the best (and most beautiful) seaside towns in the UK according to us. For a cheaper dinner, Pizzeria Il Fantasma up the pedestrianised street does great pizzas and antipasti at outdoor tables. Of Poetto’s many “beach clubs”, one of the best is La Caravella, which does great things with tuna, clams and bottarga (three-course lunch €25), as well as pizzas in the evening (from €5.50). The Buoni e Cattivi has five rooms (from €85 B&B) and three self-catering apartments sleeping four (from €80 a night, in houses nearby. Set around an elegant interior courtyard, Hostel Marina has spacious dorms with single beds (from €20) and no bunks. Or float off to sleep on a nine-metre motorboat moored in the small marina south of Poetto (en suite cabin from €85).

This is a gem of a book and disarmingly accessible – children don’t need to know it’s set in the 1950s or understand coal-mining to enjoy it, but once they tune into the book’s emotional landscape they’ll start to read it in a different way. Trains run to Cádiz from London via Paris, Perpignan (sleeper) and Madrid. See loco2.com for details. The coal mines of Cape Breton in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia have closed, but this book recalls a time when generations of men toiled in the mines under the sea.

Need Help?

Each day when the boy wakes he can hear seagulls, a barking dog, a car door, flowers rustling in the wind. The first thing he sees is the sea and he reflects on the knowledge that his father is already at work deep under the ocean working in the coal mine.

Trains run from London St Pancras to Ostend via Brussels, taking from 3hr 32min. See eurostar.com for details. And suddenly there is Cagliari: a naked town rising steep, steep, golden-looking, piled naked to the sky …” So wrote DH Lawrence in 1921 on sailing to Sardinia. Almost 100 years later the city that made the writer “think of Jerusalem” is just as impressive. Soundworlds is not just a podcast. It’s an audio stage for diverse stories told in extraordinary ways. It’s a place for an exciting new form of audio drama that we call sonic theatre. Looking for a holiday with a difference? Browse Guardian Holidays to see a range of fantastic trips Volos railway station is close to the harbour and served by local trains from Larissa (38 miles away), which is on the main Athens-Thessaloniki line. From Thessaloniki there are trains to Belgrade, Sofia and beyond (the Belgrade route is only open this year until 16 September, see seat61.com). EasyJet flies to Volos (Nea Anchialos airport, 40km away) twice a week.

With curriculum connections to communities and the history of mining, this beautifully understated and haunting story brings a piece of Canadian history to life. The ever-present ocean and inevitable pattern of life in a Cape Breton mining town will enthrall children and move adult readers. I think there could be much debate as to the whereabouts of the boy’s father. I think we are left wondering if the image of the family cuddling up together is actually a happy memory and the father is no longer with us. There are plenty of islands to explore for visitors to Rovinj. Photograph: William Manning/Getty Images