Chapter 7: A Rough Passage and the Birth of a Relationship

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Chapter 7 opens with Tom’s distressing ferry journey home from the Bodleian. Stricken by seasickness, he clings to his cabin, recalling tales of sailors who jumped overboard. The ferry arrives four hours late at Port Marlborough, a bustling quay he has always liked. Still unsteady, Tom hires an electric bike and rides twenty miles to Ball Hill Quay, then takes a last ferry to South Downs Harbour, walking the final two miles to his campus flat. He goes straight to bed without unpacking.

Lying there, Tom reflects on his relationship with Rose. They lived together for fifteen months before parting amicably, remaining close friends who have had other affairs. He admits his Blundy project feels meaningless without her, and a tension hangs between them—something will have to push them apart or bring them even closer.

The narrative then sweeps back to their early days as academics. Hired together to teach a course called “The Politics and Literature of the Inundation,” they faced a group of disengaged second-year students. The young people, raised amid the consequences of sea-level rise and war, were bored by the subject. Tom and Rose tried everything: they invited specialists, then spoon-fed a simplified history of the Derangement, showing animations of sea-level rise, nuclear politics, and vanished cities. The students remained listless.

That night, Rose and Tom drank together in despair. Joking about suicide at the lifeguard station, they kissed and became lovers. The chapter ends with Tom, in the present, drifting off to sleep after his long journey.

Key Events

Tom suffers severe seasickness on the ferry from the Oxford region to Port Marlborough.
He bikes across Marlborough Island and takes a ferry to South Downs Harbour, then walks to his flat.
Tom thinks about Rose, their past relationship, and his dependence on her for his Blundy project.
A lengthy flashback recounts Tom and Rose designing a course on the Inundation.
They fail to engage their apathetic students despite using specialists and simplified explanations.
That evening, drunk and despondent, Tom and Rose joke about hanging themselves at the lifeguard station and kiss, becoming lovers.
The narrative returns to present: Tom falls asleep in his flat.

Character Development

Tom: Reveals his vulnerability through seasickness and his emotional reliance on Rose. The flashback shows his early teaching struggles and his capacity for resilience—gallows humour saves him from despair. He emerges as a character shaped by both professional failure and personal connection.
Rose: Portrayed as brilliant, wealthy but embarrassed by money, and equally devastated by the teaching failure. Her suggestion of a suicide walk, followed by the invitation “Come with me,” highlights her blend of dark humour and willingness to share intimacy. The chapter deepens her role as Tom’s equal, not just a collaborator.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The Inundation as a burden of history: The students’ refusal to engage with the catastrophic past mirrors a generational indifference to the Derangement. Tom and Rose’s struggle to teach this history symbolises the difficulty of passing on traumatic knowledge.
Love born from shared failure: The collapse of the seminar becomes the catalyst for Tom and Rose’s romantic relationship. Their laughter and suicide jokes transform professional despair into personal intimacy.
Journey and sickness: Tom’s physical journey—rough sea, long bike ride, ferry—mirrors his mental journey back to a pivotal memory. Seasickness symbolises disorientation, vomiting up the past, before reaching the solid ground of reunion.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter supplies the origin story of Tom and Rose’s relationship, showing how two young academics became lovers out of a failed teaching experience. It also deepens the world-building by detailing the course content—the history of sea-level rise, nuclear war, tsunamis, and post-collapse society—which is central to the novel’s setting. Moreover, it confirms the emotional stakes: Tom’s work on the Blundy project is meaningless without Rose, setting up future conflict or reconciliation.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Tom take such a difficult journey from the Bodleian to his flat?
Tom has been at the Bodleian Library (likely in Oxford) researching his Blundy project. He returns via ferry, bike, and another ferry because the geography of the inundated islands requires multiple water crossings. His seasickness and the travel delays underline his determination to get back to his home campus.

2. How do the students react to the course on the Politics and Literature of the Inundation, and why?
The students are apathetic. They have grown up with the consequences of sea-level rise and war, hearing their grandparents’ stories. They find the subject boring and “dead.” Their preoccupations are fashion and a twenty-minute bass guitar solo. Tom and Rose’s attempts to make the material engaging fail because the students see the past as irrelevant.

3. What role does gallows humour play in Tom and Rose’s relationship?
After the disastrous seminar, they get drunk and joke about suicide on the beach. Rose says she will hang herself by the lifeguard station; Tom says “Off you go then,” and she replies “Come with me.” This dark banter breaks their despair and leads to their first kiss. Humour becomes a bonding mechanism that transforms professional frustration into emotional and physical intimacy.