Grey Seal – Alfred Draper

Condition : Good.
First Edition, Macdonald, 1981, Hardback with removable protective plastic wrap – Historical Fiction – 256pp.

A stirring novel of men and ships in the early days of World War II.

The story is set during the earliest months of World War II, when the Royal Navy was faced with a desperate shortage of ships and crews to man them. As a stopgap measure, the British government commandeered many deep sea trawlers from the nation’s fishing industry and conscripted their experienced seamen in the Royal Navy Reserve.

Draper’s prose is straightforward and unadorned, reading almost like a personal testament in the third person, and he does a very credible job of humanizing the story through the brisk dialogue of his diverse characters.

This wonderful novel of the “trawlermen” is an entertaining, informative, and heartwarming story about a little known corner of a great big war. It is a MUST READ for anyone having the slightest interest in World War II.