Penelope Fitzgerald (1916-2000) was born Penelope Knox, her parents being Edward Knox, a poet and later Editor of ‘Punch’ and Christina, nee Hicks, daughter of the Bishop of Lincoln.

She graduated from Somerville College, Oxford in 1938, and in 1942 married Desmond Fitzgerald, a barrister.

Ten years later he was caught forging signatures on cheques to fund his alcoholism and, as a consequence, was disbarred. Denied their comfortable Hampstead lifestyle, they moved into council houses and, for a time in the early 1960s, aboard a Battersea houseboat.

Penelope Fitzgerald mostly earned her living as a teacher, not publishing her first novel until 1977, when in her 60s and widowed.

Her third novel, ‘Offshore’ (1979) won that year’s Booker Prize.

It deals with the lives of a small community of houseboat dwellers living on Battersea Reach. It is also set in the early 1960s, although some of the cultural references seem more appropriate to London circa 1967.

Richard is solid, dutiful, ex RNVR and lives aboard Lord Jim with his beautiful wife Laura who, born into the landed gentry, would very much like to be elsewhere.

Nenna, originally a music student from Canada, married Edward in 1949. Now she and their two children, Martha, 12 and Tilda, 6, live on Grace, the houseboat she bought with their savings while Edward was working abroad. He has since returned, but is unwilling to move on board, going instead to live with a friend in Stoke Newington.

Maurice has changed the name of his barge, to Maurice, from something unpronounceably Dutch. He lives from his meagre earnings as a male prostitute, bringing back men he picks up in local pubs. He also allows a criminal called Harry to keep stolen goods in his hold.

Willis, a marine painter, lives aboard Dreadnought, which he is trying to sell, although it leaks badly. And Woodie spends his summers on Rochester and his winters in a house with his wife, Janet. After Dreadnought sinks, on the verge of being sold, Willis becomes a lodger on Rochester.

Nenna goes to Stoke Newington in an effort to persuade Edward to return to his family. But he rejects her advances and, on leaving, she forgets her purse, resulting in a long, difficult and potentially dangerous journey back to Grace.

Arriving early in the morning, she finds Richard, now apparently deserted by Laura. Nenna and Richard sleep together – and the prospect of future happiness together is fleetingly almost possible.

But then Richard confronts Harry, up to no good on board Maurice. He is seriously injured and confined to hospital. Taking advantage of this, Laura returns, puts Lord Jim up for sale and buys a house for the two of them.

Meantime, Nenna’s sister Louise has arrived in London and is arranging for Nenna and her daughters to return to Canada.

As the novel concludes, Edward arrives on Battersea Reach in the middle of a stormy night, hoping to make his peace with Nenna. Instead, he finds his way on board Maurice, where Maurice himself is riding out the storm with a bottle of whisky. They grow increasingly drunk together.

Finally, as Edward tries to cross to Grace, Maurice‘s anchor gives way and they are loosed upon the tide, both clinging precariously to existence.

Nenna’s daughters, Martha and Tilda, feature strongly throughout the narrative, enjoying a variety of adventures while absent from their convent school.

Martha falls for 16 year-old Heinrich, a friend of their aunt’s, who comes briefly to stay.

Tilda is a fearless adventuress who regularly shins up the mast, confronts Harry, or skips across the treacherous mud rescuing items to sell. She is also impossibly precocious, invariably using adult forms of expression.

We are invited to accept that both these children are much older, more adult than their parents.

At one point, they discuss Nenna:

”Do you think Ma’s mind is weakening?’ Tilda asked.

‘I thought we weren’t going to discuss our affairs today.’

Martha relented and added – ‘Well, Ma is much too dependent on Maurice, or on anyone sympathetic. She ought to avoid these people.”

‘Ofshore’ was alleged to have won the Booker Prize because the judges couldn’t decide between V.S. Naipaul and William Golding. That is unfair.

But, at 130 pages, it is an accomplished novella rather than a fully worked novel, albeit skilfully written and possessing great charm.

I enjoyed it, particularly the ending, which bravely leaves so much unresolved.

TD

July 2025