Wide Eyed

Ruaridh Nicoll

Betsy Gillander finds herself stranded in a remote fishing village on the Solway Firth. A fishing boat has gone down with all hands, maybe the captain was to blame. As newspaper reporters haunt the village hoping to exploit the grief of the families, Betsy finds herself drawn into this bleak world, and finds out a lot about herself in the process. Thanks to wonderful descriptive writing and a very strong sense of place you feel the wind and taste the salt on almost every page.

Extract

That night the storm grew into a hurricane, snow turning to sleet and then to water, coming out of the west as a deluge. Betsy approached the window tentatively and heard houses being stripped, the wind gripping at overlaps and gaps, using the leverage to tear in. She lay on the bed in the dark, wrapped in the red coat she loved, and listened to the fury.

Parallels