Author(s): Margaret Drabble

Fiction.

Humphrey and Ailsa meet as children by a grey, northern sea. Humphrey is quiet, serious - and will in time explore the sea's mysteries; Ailsa is angry, a freckled cobra ready to strike. Yet they fascinate one another and when they meet again years later they fall briefly - and disastrously - in love. Half a lifetime passes before Humphrey and Ailsa's paths finally re-cross. What will each make of their past? And of the future? "The Sea Lady" tells the story of first and last love, of evolution and the ebb and flow of time that gives shape to our lives. First published 2006.