El estado del mar

In her thirties and fresh out of a complicated relationship, Tabitha Lasley quits her job at a London magazine and spends her savings on renting an apartment in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she settles down for six months to write a book about oil rigs and men who work in them: her goal is to investigate how they behave when there are no women around. Lasley plunges headlong into a stormy subculture dominated by fighting, hard work and competitiveness. The more time she spends in the city, the more evident it becomes that her presence has a destabilizing effect on the workers...and on her. She soon begins a relationship with a married man who puts the project and her emotional balance at risk.The State of the Sea is a striking autobiographical story and a bold portrayal of masculinity, isolation, and female desire. The author starkly reflects on a masculine culture in crisis and dismantles preconceived ideas about love, attraction and class conflict in one of the most acclaimed debuts in recent years in the United Kingdom.