In her thirties and fresh out of a complicated relationship, Tabitha Lasley quits her job at a London magazine and spends her savings on renting a flat in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she settles for six months to write a book about oil rigs and the men who work on them: her aim is to investigate how they behave when there are no women around. Lasley immerses herself in a stormy subculture dominated by fighting, hard work and competitiveness. The more time she spends in the city, the more it becomes clear that her presence has a destabilising effect on the workers – and on her. She soon begins a relationship with a married man that puts the project and her emotional balance at risk.

The State of the Sea is a surprising autobiographical story and a bold portrait of masculinity, isolation and female desire. The author reflects crudely on a masculine culture in crisis and dismantles preconceived ideas about love, attraction and class conflict in one of the most acclaimed debuts of recent years in the United Kingdom.