We Came by Sea by Horatio Clare

‘I would read anything Horatio Clare wrote. His prose is always brilliant, and by turns funny, furious and heart-piercingly compassionate. He lights up – no, he scintillates – any subject that finds itself in receipt of the gift of his attention.’  Robert Macfarlane

‘It feels comforting and right to have a writer of Clare’s skill turn attention to this topic, and he does not avoid referencing corruption and other wrongdoing by those in power’ Sally Hayden, The Irish Times

‘[Clare’s] job, executed wonderfully well, is to help us to think calmly and intelligently about those arriving in small boats, to consider giving them a chance and to recognise that we have more in common with them than we might imagine.‘ Maggie Fergusson, The Spectator 

‘There is such humanity in the writing. Horatio has a way of telling another person’s story, which is unlike anything I have come across in all the welter of news, and I felt proud to read them. Gratitude that he had the courage and determination to seek them out and to Little Toller for creating an exceptionally fine book. A pleasure to hold in the hands and notice how it begins and ends with a page from Horatio’s notebook. Almost indecipherable writing on the first and a drawing of heartbreaking beauty, by a young man from Eritrea, on the last. We Came By Sea contains the stories of people who risk their lives for an idea; believing that they have something to offer, and that Britain will treat them kindly.

‘As the other news becomes more strident and more fearful, and Union Jacks are appearing, even in this corner of rural Gloucestershire, this book carries a different flag. Stories of a greater Britain. Please read it.’ Sue Brooks, Caught by the River

We Came By Sea, Stories of a greater Britain is an untold story of the small boats crisis, a story which shows the best of us. It is the story of the volunteers who help thousands of refugees in Calais, of the lifeboat crews mounting one of the great search and rescue operations of all time, of an unrecognised, uncelebrated, all but unknown Britain which is giving its all to help the vulnerable and desperate. It is a journey through an unexamined nation, a nation which is as truly great and good as the people in the dinghies believe Britain to be. It is not the story we have been told, and it is a true story.

Published 2nd June 2025

Hardback

Available now.