Narrow Focus: The Narrow Boat Books

I love Marie browne writing about the highs and lows of living aboard a canal boat

I feel a bit unkind giving this only 4 stars, but although it is unquestionably better written then its three predecessors, personally I did not find it as enjoyable. It is as much a series of family travelogues as an account of life aboard a narrowboat. The tribulations of family holidays both long past and more recent unquestionably range from highly amusing to hilarious - Marie and her family certainly attract disasters - but I would like to have read more about the day to day problems of living permanently on the inland waterways from the family's point of view. Mainly only for fellow boat devotees I suppose is it of interest to suffer by proxy the problems inherent in trying to clean off to bare metal and then paint 70 ft. of topsides and gunwales, plus roof, in the open air, whilst coping with the exigencies of the English summer! Oh, how I sympathise with the family! I finally finished painting the exterior of my boat, and I have only 50 ft. of it, last summer, after 3 years of weekends spent consulting the rain gods, deciding to deploy paint, rollers and brushes, then watching with bated breath for the first drops of rain, showers of wind- blown leaves, or plagues of insects to attack my still wet paint! I wonder what Marie's next project will be? Apart from the fact that it will require major preparatory work on another boat, she tells us nothing, so I look forward to an account of her latest venture a year or two hence, when she and Geoff have found their boat and are getting stuck in!

I have read all the books in the series and they were all very good. Narrow Focus, felt to me to be more about disastrous holidays than Narrow boating. Still a good read but not quite what I was expecting.

You've got to love a bit of both as it makes life far more interesting and also valid.I love the thought of embracing change with very little time to think but out of which comes great results occasionally and sometimes not.The humour in the book and between the family and friends is just brilliant and I am now a participant of pirate coffee though I don't look for or need a disaster in order to partake and that I believe means I don't enjoy it quite as much as if something had just gone female front bumps up.Marie writes brilliantly and I love all of her books, I just hope she may do more of them !!.I am about to join the canal ranks later this yr when I purchase a 57ft but thankfully for me it will be without the need for all the work that you guys required as frankly I don't have the talent or the patience.All the best, I will look out for the boat but as we are up north I won't expect to see it.

Love Marie's books. So well written. Was hoping it was more adventures of narrowboat life but wasn't as much as previous novels. Still a good read though.

in general I found the book well written and easy to read, but as others have said I found there was too much devoted to family holidays, wih the other three books I really enjoyed the humourous if sometimes traumatic recollections of day to day life afloat, this is probably due to my intrest in all things boating, that said, still an enjoyable read.

I down loaded this book from the kindle store, to go with the other books by Marie Browne that I already have, it's a good read like her other books about life on the canals, I didn't find it quite as good has the others that she wrote, there were a bit too much about her holidays rather then life on narrow boats,

Excellent series of books, read them all. Well written. You feel the emotions, the ups and downs , the laughter, the traumas. Easy to picture the scene. Makes you realise there are alternative lives to the 'norm'. Looking forward to the next installment!!