Silent Riders of the Sea | A Scottish Verse Novel of Grief and Survival

Review of Silent Riders of the Sea
This historical novel is set in 1930, and takes place on board a fishing vessel.
The author, John Gerard Fagan, has an impressive way with words and imagery, his use of language and striking metaphors being standout features of the novel.
It is told in an interesting and rarely-encountered way, as a work of free verse, like a long prose poem. For some, I suppose, this may take some getting used to. But the majority of readers of literary fiction will quickly adapt.
In terms of form it is not a million miles away from Solar Bones by Mike McCormack, a novel which takes a similarly radical approach to narrative form, and which won the Goldsmiths Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award.
While it is too soon to know whether Silent Riders of the Sea will win any awards, what I can tell you is that it is definitely worth your time. It will very quickly transport you to a world of hardship that is (thank God) for the most part forgotten in the U.K. Fagan’s writing is so vivid you will come close to enduring the hardships that Jack, the protagonist, endures. You will certainly feel for Jack and you will be taken on a highly-charged emotional journey.
So read this book, by all means.
A word of caution, though. If you are looking for an uplifting novel, this isn’t it. Silent Riders of the Sea, for all its poetic inclinations, is a gritty read, and is utterly unsparing in its attention to uncomfortable detail. Your emotions while reading it are likely to encompass pity and fear, and perhaps even horror.
You will not leave this book feeling uplifted. You will leave it feeling the same way you might after watching, say, a performance of King Lear. You will have the impression you have witnessed an unfolding of terrible events, and the experience will probably bring home to you how blessed you are to be living the life you have.
Which is the point of tragedy, isn’t it?

Silent Riders of the Sea is a remarkable story of grief and struggle that seeps into your flesh and bones and lingers. It's a story that drags you through the coal mines and onto a freezing ship where sailors are sick and starving and the management are willing to let them die as they seek to earn as much as they can. It's told through the eyes of a miner-turned-sailor called Jack and reads like a fever dream. It's raising the bar on what I'll now expect from Scottish literature in the future, and with that being said, I can't recommend it enough.

I am a fan of the author and a big fan of his previous novel Fish Town. Silent Riders of the Sea is almost like a horror story but told in the most incredible way.

It is my book of 2024/25 so far. The struggle of Jack on the cold Scottish seas as he realises he should have stayed with his wife is heartbreaking.

I was recommended this book by a friend and I was glad they did. It broke my heart but I have only good things to say about it. Silent Riders of the Sea is phenomenal.

One of the ways I judge books is if I miss the characters when I’m finished.. and I miss Jack. It’s one of those stories that you can’t put down. A heavy story, but my favourite ones always are.

Brutal, beautiful, and one of the most captivating stories I have ever read. Phenomenal writing.

Silent Riders is one of those rare books that when you finish it you want to read it all over again. Bleak, heartbreaking, poetic prose that encapsulates the emotions of a poor miner who has lost everything but didn't realise he had more to lose. I read it in one sitting and can't recommend this enough.

Written in a style reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road', this book is hard to put down. As tough and dark as the subject matter and it's topics may be, you're genuinely immersed in the journey and it's narrative.
Not necessarily for the faint hearted, but amazing literature rarely is!
Looking forward to future works from this author!!!!

Silent Riders of the Sea is a book that breaks your heart and leaves you staring into space. The most beautifully written book I have read this year.

The writing is sparse but so well crafted; I felt I was there frozen with grief. Fagan is fast becoming one of my favorite writers. The village in Scotland Jack was from reminded me of my mother's in Sweden. And we lost many of our men to the sea.

I wrote a pirate book almost 30 years ago about a mutiny at sea, so these kind of sea stories (all-be-it minus the pirates) always appeal to me. Silent Riders of the Sea is very well written and takes this kind of rise against the machine story in a different direction from what I have read before. While I prefer happily ever after books I understood from the tone in this story that Fagan was going along a different path.

I knew what I was in for from reading Fish Town. Exceptional storytelling and beautiful writing. The darkest book I’ve read this year. I’ll prepare myself for reading his next book if it’s going to be as bleak!

Poetic and powerful. I like this author's style of writing.