Following the death of his wife, the widowed narrator of The Sea spends a lengthy recuperative and reflective stay at the same beach town where he vacationed as a child. The story goes back and forth between his present grief and his coming-of-age memories.

Banville has a graceful way of turning a phrase and more than a few clever lines (“If there was such a thing a ‘long shrift,’ I was in need of some” and “He was half way to a half wit” for example). The present-day story of the wife’s death is particularly touching. The childhood story is charming, although the end did not work as well, in retrospect, as it seemed to. All in all, an entertaining read.