The Sailors Return 1925 is a novel by David Garnett. Published several years after Garnett was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Hawthornden Prize for Lady into Fox 1922 his fourth novel explores themes of race and empire while showcasing the authors originaland often controversialliterary style. ampampquotHe was in no hurry to go ashore and waited half an hour for the confusion to be straightened out on board and the turmoil to subside on land before he motioned to the young negro who accompanied him to bear a hand with a large basket of woven grass.ampampquot Arriving home in Dorset England aboard the Duke of Kent mariner William Targett brings a young African woman and child with him.