Aliterary interpretation of the Christmas story, To The Great Sea imaginatively extends, probes, conjectures about and questions the original version to provide a much fuller and more humanly plausible version.What is this man afraid of? What is he fleeing from? Where is he going? Who, indeed, is he? Having crossed the great river, he has vague notions of heading westwards towards the Great Sea – until chance intervenes. On a whim, he changes direction to follow a moving star that can stop men dead in their tracks. Crossing the vast, empty desert, he encounters another much larger group of travellers, led by a ‘seeker after truth’; the fabled magus Melichior of Ninevah. The unfolding story this man’s life spent wandering, endlessly searching, and the wisdom he has acquired, enthral the fugitive and they agree to travel on together. Melichior is also following the star, though apparently with far more knowledge about it. After strange, coincidental and inexplicable encounters, they eventually end up at an encampment of travellers outside a small town. They go up into this town to see what they can find – anything that might point to the fulfilment of the age-old prophecies of the coming of a king who will conquer and rule the whole Earth.

Doug is influenced by Eliot’s poems TheJourney of theMagi and Four Quartets. He also takes inspiration from Cesare Pavese, John Fowles andWilliam Golding. To TheGreat Sea is a work of well-crafted prose that will be enjoyed by high-brow readers.