Book Review - At The Captain's Table by Gervase Phinn

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Title: At The Captain's Table

Author: Gervase Phinn

Format reviewed: Paperback

Source: Purchased

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date: 9th June 2022

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Sail away with the delightful new novel from Gervase Phinn, bestselling author of The School at the Top of the Dale

A summer cruise should be just the ticket for a few weeks of luxury and relaxation - but for the passengers and crew of the Empress of the Ocean, the sights of the Mediterranean are nothing compared to the excitement on board...

For bickering couple Albert and Maureen, the trip might prove a much-needed escape - or the final straw. Elegant Frances de la Mare is determined to hobnob with the right kind of people - but her penthouse suite proves lonelier than she ever imagined. Meanwhile, precocious twelve-year-old Oliver discovers that guidebooks don't teach you everything, sparks fly when the port lecturer finds himself upstaged by a popular author, dancers Bruce and Babs can't keep in step, and cruise expert Neville just wants someone to speak to.

But as unlikely friendships are forged, feuds bubble in the laundry room, and everyone jostles for a seat at the Captain's table, they might find all their plans going overboard....

Warm, funny and uplifting, this is the perfect escapist read for fans of Gervase Phinn's Yorkshire novels, as well as readers of Celia Imrie, Alan Titchmarsh and Maeve Haran.

Although being aware of Gervase Phinn and thinking I'd probably enjoy his books,  I had never got as far as reading one before At The Captain's Table, and I know it was the fact it was set on a cruise ship that attracted my attention.

After all I love all travel and cruising and couldn't want to see just what Empress of the Ocean is like.  And I get the impression that it was most likely modelled on one of the Cunard Queens  - which makes it not the sort of ship that I would prefer to cruise on, but made it perfectly suited for the sort of story that was being told. 

For we meet absolutely loads of the guests and crew, in short snippets, in a manner that you may think would be confusing but in fact made perfect sense and once I was used to the writing style I loved the way everything was told to us.

Because being on a cruise ship you do keep running into the same guests over and over, so you do start to get to know them a bit better than the initial surface cruise ship chat my imply.  And there is a wide ranging group of people on this particular Med cruise. 

Easily my favourite was Oliver,  who is a rather unusual 12 year old boy, and proud of it. He is eloquent, knowledgeable and genuinely interested in the ports and their historic sides.  Although I did feel it rather unrealistic that he was being allowed to explore the ports on his own, even if his grandparents had disembarked with him.  It just didn't ring true to anything that I know which was a slight shame. 

Other than that, I recognised elements of many of the guests on board, and that of the entertainers and crew too.  I felt as though I was on the voyage alongside everyone and was curious to see the various ports on this itinerary too. 

However again, I did feel that some elements weren't realistic, like a ship that has just done a med cruise, having a Caribbean cruise as it's very next sailing. Given just about every ship would do a transatlantic between the cruising seasons, sold separately to a Caribbean cruise, as they attract different clientele. 

With the few weird things aside, I was invested in these characters, and curious to see how their holidays would turn out. 

A completely different narrative style to what I'm used to, but I felt it really worked well for this book.  And I really do think  I should get around to reading other books from this author at some point.