Borrowed Light by
Joolz Denby
pbk out February 06
(Serpent's Tail)
at £8.99
Set in a Cornish holiday town, Borrowed Light is the story of Astra Sharp and her friends and family. Astra’s world is turned upside down when her mother is diagnosed with MS and Astra has to give up her university education and return home to help care for her mother and baby sister and hold together the family. As the child of hippie parents, Astra has developed a practicality that comes into its own in these circumstances. The evocation of a surfer resort in Cornwall is a pleasure to read but Denby stays close to her Bradfordian roots by casting her main characters as incomers from the Yorkshire city. The arrival of Angel, a girl of devastating beauty, signals the start of everything going wrong. Suspense builds steadily like a great wave (though the sea is becalmed in the stifling summer she portrays) and we know blood will out - though not whose or how. Skilful in depicting the play of family relationships, eloquent on the power of friendship, Denby is a rewarding author to read and an excellent wordsmith.
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder)
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Borrowed Light by
Joolz Denby
