Knock, Turn

by Jeb Loy Nichols

In their canal boat home, an elderly couple, long married, drift through the waterways of England, remembering their past, confronting the future, questioning the cosmos in this profound and often comic novel by the acclaimed writer Jeb Loy Nichols. Bev and Mouse are learning how to remember. On a canal boat, a floating world, they're surrounded by past lives, memories, and unfinished business. It’s a journey not of discovery or recovery, but of temporariness, of various, unexpected doings, a journey inwards, a journey of the imperfect, the impermanent, the incomplete. Along the way, floating between what they've left and what they hope to find, they find new meanings in the small, often overlooked grains of life. A story about the acceptance of transience, the importance of water, and the rare good fortune of finding the right person at the right time.

171 pages, Paperback

Published December 6, 2022

Reviews

[jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

poetic and gentle. different pace of storytelling than i’m used to, so was definitely an interesting read.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't do a lot of quiet books. I do loud, noisy military or other histories or biographies. I do big heavy volumes groaning under the weight of ideas and arguments. This book appealed because it is mainly set aboard a narrow boat on the canals in the UK, a passion of mine born in great part out of the pandemic. Like this novel, narrow boats generally cruise gently, quietly, usually no more than 4 miles an hour and often less than least their wake disturb fellow boaters tied up along the canal bank. This was a nice change from my usual fare but it's time now for something big and noisy.

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this little book. Try it in a couple of sittings, maybe on a cold day, with a cup of tea. It's a love story of a quiet, at peace couple. They've ditched their limited London belongings for life on a slow moving canal boat through London. Told from his point of view, we learn of his so very lovely relationship with his famous painter father. I loved the descriptions of the still life's his father painted - how the meaning is in the object, the space between them, just in their being. His father taught him to savor the quiet, appreciate stillness. We learn of his career running a bookshop featuring French literature and philosophy and science fiction. Through the bookshop and Poole, a trespasser on their barge we look at the world from the different perspective of outer space, aliens, the unfamiliar - and are constantly reminded of how very small each of us are. Our narrator is a curmudgeon, a bit of a grumbler through life, but he is saved by his dear Bev, who calls him Mouse, who brings him endless quiet joy. At the end, they tell one another to be careful - I think for fear of losing one another and the ever diminishing time they have left

[Alex Dinndorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aboard a houseboat, two shy retirees look back on a life of modesty traveling though the canals of England. At their age, they keep their lives mostly to themselves. Communicating nonverbally to each other by the way they share tea, make breakfast and hold hands.

They cohabitate such a small space, more quaint then an apartment, but separated from each other by their own routines. Finding some independence in the corners of a small boat.

I really enjoyed this book, there's a sense of calm to following a quiet and very stable relationship. They are never really rattled and live very secure and tender lives. It's peaceful to spend your golden years like this.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A contemplative and gorgeously written book about the memories and insecurities of an aging man, his one great love, and living as simply as possible on the water. This was the first book in ages that I actually enjoyed to the last, which felt like a marvelous gift.
Plus, that cover!!

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quiet with an emotional core. Made me feel like I was floating myself on a boat gently moved along by the current.

[bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't usually read books of this nature but this book was so endearing. I want someone to think of me the way he thinks of Bev. What a nice little book.