dancing in the shallows

She’s had this feeling before. This feeling of marking time. Of pressing her nose against a window and watching as everyone else lives their best lives.

Isla Wintergreen has not seen her grandfather since she was seven, but when she unexpectedly inherits his cottage on the Isle of Skye, she cannot resist the opportunity to escape her purposeless life. As she slowly becomes a part of the island community, she learns more about the family she never really knew - from her estranged father, to her reclusive grandfather, and her intelligent but oppressed great-grandmother. Meanwhile, her mother Cathy reflects on her own past. Mother and daughter both hope to find new freedom - but can family patterns ever really be broken?

Told through the lives of four generations of Isla’s family, all linked by their connection to water, Dancing in the Shallows masterfully explores family relationships and generational inheritance.

Clare Reddaway is a Bath-based writer of short stories and plays. Her short stories have been widely published online and in anthologies, and she has won and been listed for many short story competitions, including the BBC National Short Story Awards and the Bridport Prize. Clare’s plays have been performed throughout the UK, including runs at the Edinburgh Festival and in London and Bath. She has worked for the BBC, Granada Television and various independent production companies, and has volunteered widely. Dancing in the Shallows is Clare’s debut novel.