MeIt was the tragedy that sent novelist Will Menmuir to the “peninsula” of Cornwall, with its long, winding coastline. In 2011, his first child was stillborn. He fled with his wife to the desolate north coast of the county. Although it was winter and cold, he stepped into the sea. “And for a while the sorrow, far from being subdued, was met with a deafening white wall of his noise, and the incessant screams were muffled. The sea’s indifference is easily explained to me. It’s an invaluable consolation, and it continues to play its part.”
now The Draw of the SeaMenmuir, the 2016 Booker Long List Novel many Set in a Cornish fishing village, the film focuses on the role the sea plays in the British collective consciousness and how we have been shaped by the sea that surrounds us. moved to Cornwall in 2013 and now he and his family live a water life with swimming, surfing, rockpooling and beachcombing. It also explores the lives of motley sailors extensively.
The first chapter of the book was based on the work of Cornish playwright Nick Darke, and his final film was a documentary depicting the history of the Cornish shipwreck. As Menmuir puts it, “the word shipwreck conjures up images of ships lured into false lights and rocks,” but there is little evidence that shipwrecks were this vicious. It is a predominantly Cornish tradition to wash on the beach more or less used objects brought in by ocean currents.
Menmuir is a beachcomber at heart, running a vagrant who reads complex histories from what he finds. As Darke’s widow told him, these objects “make the whole world seem smaller and more connected.” he knows this very well. His house was built of Nigerian iroko timber that fell from a ship off Penzance.
The book is oriented southwest, with chapters taking place either in Cornwall or in the Isles of Scilly, 25 miles further in the Atlantic Ocean. It is here that Menmuir and his family vacation and Silly is like a dream landscape for him, allowing him to easily immerse himself in the sea world. The islands of the archipelago were once a single large island, Ennore. Menmuir uses his memories of this place to explore the legend of Liones, King Arthur’s Atlantis.
The Draw of the Sea I am especially good at the natural world. Siri’s traditional conger eel hunting has a wonderful story. Hang a little boy in front of the hole, wait for the eel to wrap around him, then pull him out. Elsewhere, barnacles have been found to have “lucky-dip penises” up to eight times their body length. Barnacles are hermaphrodites, regardless of gender, and blindly reach out to large members in hopes of meeting nearby mates.
Menmuir’s novel is full of beautiful words, and it is also a book that sings. He describes his sensations obtained at his seaside as follows. With light and wonder.” Its light and wonder illuminate the pages of this magical book, a fitting tribute to the majesty and mystery of the sea.
