Dark Water by Sara Bailey & GIVEAWAY

Kindle Edition, 224 pages

Expected publication: October 3rd 2016 by Nightingale Editions

 

Friendship doesn't die, it waits...

A haunting and lyrical novel, Dark Water is a psychologically intense portrait of adolescent yearning and obsession.

When Helena returns to her childhood home in Orkney, she is forced to face memories that she has spent half a lifetime running from. Her best friend, the charismatic Anastasia, disappeared after a swimming incident. But what really happened that night by the wrecks? 

My Thoughts…

With this review I have to start with the amazing cover of Dark Water.     Just look at it, study it, and love it.     The cover leads to everything in this story.   The shadow of an unknown woman, the rough sea, and the grey sky are all foretelling the story of Helena and Anastasia.  

Sara Bailey has blown the reading world away with her debut book, Dark Water.    Usually a debut does not always have all the working parts of a great story put together, yet the potential is there.    With Dark Water there are no hiccups, no missing parts, not even a little misconnection.    It is perfect.   

I enjoyed how I was able to get a look into Helena and Anastasia’s lives growing up.   Sara Bailey portrayed them as teenagers, not children, not adults, just teenagers doing their teenage things, acting like teenagers, and reacting like teenagers.   The pacts, the games, and the boys are all so real to the teenage world that I was pulled right in.   I could relate as I currently have a teenage daughter and many of the reactions were true to what I am experiencing with her.

There is also a mystery here.   What happen to Anastasia?    There were clues given throughout the story but the truth does not come out until the end.    I had guesses, I had hopes, and I was so wrong.     I am a reader that follows the path that the author writes.   I have tried to stray but I always am led right back into the path, thus I am almost always shocked when the truth is shared.   

I definitely recommend picking up your own copy of Dark Water by Sara Bailey.  

Book Links

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Diane Chandler, recent winner of The People’s Book Prize writes: 

“The portrayal of a community living in each other’s pockets was so brilliantly done … it was deliciously claustrophobic. I was reminded throughout of Olive Kitteridge’s Maine – the harbour, the fishing boats, the harsh lives, the cramped front rooms. Bailey’s scenic portrayal of Orkney is also masterful.”  

S.E. Lynes, author of Amazon bestseller ‘Valentina’ describes the novel: 

"Like a selkie through the cold North Sea, the story of Helena’s past ploughs inexorably towards its dark conclusion, every line haunted by the ghost of her enigmatic former best friend, Anastasia. With the island of Orkney as the most dynamic of backdrops, author Sara Bailey lures you into a story of intense teenage friendship, first love, and family ties, keeping you spellbound until the very last word."

About Dark Water:

When Helena returns to her childhood home in Orkney to care for her father after a heart attack, she is forced to face memories that she has spent half a lifetime running from.

Still haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, the charismatic Anastasia - who vanished during a daredevil swimming incident - Helena must navigate her way though the prisms of memory and encounter not only her ghosts but also her first love, Dylan, the only one who can help her unravel the past and find her way back to the truth of what really happened that night.

Sara Bailey’s haunting and lyrical debut: a psychologically intense portrait of adolescent yearning and obsession, set in the beautiful Orkney Islands.

Sara Bailey wrote the novel as part of her PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at Bangor University.

About the author:

Dr Sara Bailey left Orkney to go to London aged 16. After working in a variety of different jobs from mortuary attendant to stage manager on Les Miserables, she studied part time and went on to University. She has an MA in Women’s History, an MA in Creative Writing as well as a PhD in Critical and Creative Writing.

Her first book was published by Bloomsbury in 2013, Writing the Horror Movie, which she co-authored whilst hiding behind a cushion.

She has recently returned to Orkney and married an Orcadian. Dark Water is her first novel and heavily inspired by the islands she has returned to. She is now a lecturer for UHI (University of the Highlands and Islands).

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