The Lost Sailors

This was a blind library loan as part of my “Marseille-based novels to read in Marseille” book stack, but it turned out unexpectedly great. The plot is at times very melodramatic but the author handles it with great skill.

I've always been very curious about the lives of sailors, having grown up in a coastal town and among friends whose dads spent 6 months of each year on the sea. This was a great peak into their minds and lives, and it matched my own observations about the more problematic parts of that lifestyle.

The author is obviously in love with his city but he also really gets the reasons why Marseille is so easy to fall in love with for a visitor and why certain types of people feel so immediately at home there.

Spoilery trigger warning: the ending made me extremely sad.