Life in the herring industry..

This was an abridged audiobook, so I would doubtless have missed out on some of the background and character building of the complete version, but this felt very cliche and predictable. It did entertain me during a few long drives, but the ending brought little in the way of surprises and I was ready to move on to my next read.

Jeanie has lost her father, a fisherman, whose boat never returned one evening. Her mother had died when she was young and she's now alone. She has moved south from Scotland to work with the girls who followed the herring fleet, gutting and packing the catch. When she rescues fifteen year-old Grace from a drunken attack, she is welcomed into Grace's family and falls for her older brother, Tom Lawrence.
There are complicated relationships between the Lawrence family and the owners of the trawlers that they fished on. The romance and intrigue centres on these two families, who are miles apart in terms of wealth and status.

I enjoyed learning about these fishermen and their families; the hardships and dangers they faced and the hardworking women who gutted and packed the fish.
I was irritated by the narrator, who spoke with only two voices, male and female, and over-enunciated her words. And did these people really call each other 'hen'? That also annoyed me! ( )