Spies & Fishermen - East Anglian Lives

From nuclear testing to family secrets, the edge of the North Sea has always been a place of shifting shorelines and hidden mysteries. Two local authors, Daryl Fraser and Sarah Bower, will share the inspiration behind their books, and how the storms and squalls of the sea influenced their writing.  

Bower’s Lines & Shadows literary spy thriller contrasts with Fraser’s generational fishing epic Silver Harvest, with both works following the thread of the currents, and the impact of the sea upon the story.  

Tickets £10

Sarah Bower

Sarah Bower is the author of four novels, most recently Lines and Shadows, published by Story Machine Press in 2023. Her third novel, Erosion (written as S. A. Hemmings) was also inspired by the East Anglian coastline. Her short fiction and non-fiction has appeared in Lighthouse, Asian Cha and MsLexia among others. Her work has also been broadcast on Radios 3 and 4. She teaches creative writing at the Open University where she is currently reading for a PhD in creative and critical writing.

About Lines and Shadows

1960. The height of the Cold War. Maths prodigy Ginny Matlock is appointed to be the first woman computer at a secretive nuclear testing facility off the East Anglian coast. She quickly finds, in this landscape of endless skies and shifting shorelines, that nothing is what it seems. What is the terrible secret of Briar Cottage? What dark tale haunts the local pub? And who is the mysterious Artist with whom Ginny’s fate becomes entangled?

Daryl Fraser

Daryl Fraser was born and raised in Lowestoft. After leaving school aged fifteen he returned to education and studied literature and history before working as a civil servant, publicist, photographer, and even practising hypnotherapy, until he discovered a passion for writing.

Daryl lives in Norwich with his wife, Jo. A move, he says that has given him a fresh perspective on his birthplace. But he can’t stay away from the sea for long and is a frequent visitor to Lowestoft. Silver Harvest is his debut novel.

About Silver Harvest

Jacob Chapman stands on the beach in Lowestoft, preparing to put to sea for the first time in his own boat. Hunting herring – the silver darlings – off the east coast, just as his ancestors have done for centuries. Silver Harvest follows four generations as they make their lives by the sea.