Brookes, Ewart Proud Waters.

Brookes’ novel is focused on World War 2 English coastal minesweepers, “the little ships that kept the sea lanes clear.” The Times Literary Supplement’s review of Jan. 29, 1954 is mixed at best, though (positively) noting: “By far the best passages in the book are those which describe action and fear. Engagements with enemy aircraft and light, fast, coastal forces are vividly realized. The nervous strain of command, the lack of sleep, the constant awareness that a lightning decision of life or death at any moment – all these are well brought out.”