Distant Horizons - Eric C Bartholomew

SITTING on a beach in Goa, one year, I watched an old man fishing just offshore with a circular, weighted net. I befriended him, buying him meals of rice and whatever, and he taught me to fish offshore. He told me the true story of a poor fisherman who

SITTING on a beach in Goa, one year, I watched an old man fishing just offshore with a circular, weighted net. I befriended him, buying him meals of rice and whatever, and he taught me to fish offshore.

"He told me the true story of a poor fisherman who, one day while fishing, came across a swarm of king prawns. He filled his boat to the gunnels, going back to re-fill several times.

"This not only gave him wealth beyond his wildest dreams, but enabled him to go on and, from nothing, forge a business worth millions that included a fleet of boats and a canning factory. He not only supplied beach shacks and restaurants, but exported to several European countries."

Thus Eric C Bartholomew explains how he came to write Distant Horizons (�8.99, Kavanagh Tipping), a family soap opera about life, love, and fishing.

Joe and his young son Pedro live in a small village on the coast in Goa and make a meagre living from fishing. One day their boat is caught in a storm. Joe is almost killed by a shark and left disabled.

They befriend the captain of the trawler, which rescues them, and when they hit the big time with their prawn catch, they set up a business with him and his two sons. But one of the sons falls in with gangsters and Mumbai lowlife, sparking tragedy.

Bartholomew has come up with an intriguing tale and is a natural story-teller.

- LINDSAY JONES