Grace lives alone in a village on the east coast of Northern Ireland, filling her days with swimming, fishing, quilting and baiting the tourists who arrive from the city with more money than sense. One of the tourists is Evan, who is taking an enforced holiday from his family in Belfast as he grieves the death of his infant daughter. But before a week is out, he is trapped there by lockdown.When Grace grudgingly saves Evan from drowning at sea, and his quirky young son arrives to stay, all three are pulled together and forced into a reckoning with their personal traumas that draws them back into the world.

Roisin Maguire lives by the sea in Northern Ireland, and holds an MA in Creative Writing from Queen's University. She has worked as a nightclub bouncer, bus driver and primary school teacher - and is a keen scuba diver and fisherwoman who swims every day of the year in the Irish Sea.