A love letter to the North Sea, Tom Blass’s captivating memoir of his travels around its shores stretches from the fishermen trawling its depths to the international battles waged on its surface, and gives an incredible history that stretches from an ancient past to the uncertain future

Saturnine and quick-tempered, the formidable North Sea is often overlooked – even by those living within a stone’s throw of its steel-grey waters. But as playground, theatre of war and cultural crossing-point, it has shaped the world in myriad ways, forged villains and heroes, and determined the fates of nations. It’s not all grim, though: the seaside holiday was born on North Sea beaches, and artists, poets and writers have been as equally inspired by glinting sun on the wave-tops as they have the drama of a winter storm. With a wry eye and a warm coat, Tom Blass travels the edges of the North Sea meeting fishermen, artists, bomb disposal experts, burgermeisters – and those who have found themselves flung to the sea’s perimeters quite by chance. In doing so he attempts to piece together its manifold histories and to reveal truths, half-truths and fictions otherwise submerged...

"The sunless subject of the narrative, which threatens to be monotonous, turns out of be almost kaleidoscopically varied ... Blass opens the performance with a virtuoso summary of its history ... Terrifically enjoyable" - Literary Review

"Rich, illuminating and enjoyable ... Blass’s attentiveness and curiosity are such that you are seldom a few pages from encountering an invigorating detail. An arresting fact. Or fantastical coast dwellers and obscure communities. There is much to savour ... An invigorating and atmospheric account of a world that is central to our identity, and it is to Blass’s credit that he keeps its own true nature hovering somewhere only just out of view." - Observer

"Blass writes sentences that soar ... He has done enough poking and nuzzling around its waters to make a good effort at giving this dour, dramatic sea is vast, multilingual, beguiling due." - Guardian

"Who would have thought that a book about a treacherous expanse of freezing, grey-green water, feared by mariners through the centuries, could turn out to be such a delight? A large and colourful cast of characters marches through the book" - Daily Mail

"In a wonderfully English way ... Tom Blass zigzags from the Thames Estuary via the British and continental coasts to Shetland, journeying to the desolate edges ... He champions a subtlety of vision, a determination to discern the marvellous in the unprepossessing ... Blass traces telling historical patterns ... Blass’s descriptions of them are a great pleasure in what becomes a fine travel book ... If neither he nor the reader falls for the subject of The Naked Shore, its details reveal a sea bordered here and there by worlds brightly unexpected and transporting" - Daily Telegraph

"Captivating ... Rich, evocative prose ... The Naked Shore vividly describes some of the wildest, windswept corners of the North Sea and its remote coastal communities ... Part travelogue, part history book and part anthropological study, Blass’s intensely rewarding memoir succeeds in scattering some light into the North Sea’s cold and murky depths, revealing both its wonders and its indivisible relationship with humanity." - Independent

"Tom Blass’ riveting new book, The Naked Shore, is so extremely good that we hope it will bring a warmth and richness to your early spring reading. That said, you’ll probably want to dive into this fabulous account somewhere indoors rather than settling down on a blustery beach" - Guardian

"A hugely enjoyable anti-tour, and a wonderful eulogy to an implacable ocean" - Times Literary Supplement

"‘This book records the ambiguous charm of estuaries, discovers the link between herring and sterling, tells strange tales of the Half-Islands and transforms the chilly Northern waters into a realm of mystery and intrigue’" - Daily Mail