THE SILVER DARLINGS

1960s Scotland, a time and an industry long gone, fishing onboard small trawlers, dwarfed by the Atlantic waves. It’s a time of transition; personal, industrial, societal. And The Silver Darlings, an astonishingly confident debut from Will Morris, tells a tale of boys becoming men, and a tale of the beautiful and terrifying sea, a mistress all seamen learn to respect sooner or later. The Silver Darling singular refers to the boat, plural it’s a name for the darting, light catching schools of Herring the boat is chasing after, the catch getting less and less over the years. But for young Danny, son of the ship’s Captain, all it means singular or plural is a dead-end, a full stop, his life mapped out before he has a chance to choose for himself. He’s desperate to escape his heritage, his birthright, his small community, the life passed down father to son, generations working the seas. Thankfully he’s found an escape plan, a cousin willing to take his place, and he’s off, one last summer onboard, then it’s Glasgow and college. There’s a sense that Danny thinks himself a little too good for the boats, arty, thoughtful, above it all. College can’t come too soon. But first he has to get through this summer, aboard a boat he really isn’t comfortable on, the sealegs skipped a generation with Danny it seems, and it’s not too long before he’s painting the side of the boat all shades of green…