On the Battersea Reach of the Thames, a mixed bag of eccentrics lives in houseboats. Belonging to neither land nor sea, they belong to one another. How each of their lives complicates the others is the stuff of this perfect little novel. Winner of a 1997 Booker Prize.

"Evidence from a mysterious death takes Benjamin to an island on the Thames. There, Isabelle is trapped by fear and a recurring dream about a man's death. Or is it a memory? When a second death brings everyone under suspicion, she realizes her island sanctuary will never be the same"-- When an old friend is killed, the senior partner at the law office where Benjamin Brooker works isn't satisfied with Bow Street's efforts. Benjamin agrees to investigate,...

"George, William, and J. agree on one thing. They're overworked and need a rest. A week on "the rolling deep"--they decide--may be just the thing! So off they go with Montmorency, the dog, anticipating the joys of long, lazy days during a glorious Victorian summer. What happens to these bungling bachelors on a two-week rowing excursion up the Thames provides fodder for one of the best-known classics of English humor." -- back cover.

When J. the narrator, George, Harris and Montmorency the dog set off on their hilarious misadventures, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather-forecasts, imaginary illnesses, butter pats and tins of pineapple chunks.