'This tremendous book about life, love and fish will confirm Raffaella Barker's reputation as one of the cleverest and freshest young British novelists' Daily Mail

'Stylish and insightful ... With the pace and verve of a thriller' Independent

Christy Naylor was forced to grow up quickly. Still reeling with anger after the death of her mother, she abandons college in order to help her father uproot from suburbia and start a new life on a swampy fish farm out in the sticks, a prize that he won in a shady game of poker.

Amid this turmoil, looms the mysterious Mick Fleet, tall, powerful and charismatic. Unsettled and unsure of herself, Christy is hooked on his intense charm. She knows nothing about him yet she feels like she is being swallowed up in his embrace and she plunges into a love affair blind to the catastrophe he will bring…

This tremendous book about life, love and fish will confirm Raffaella Barker's reputation as one of the cleverest and freshest young British novelists * Daily Mail *
Grippingly constructed ... It is saturated with fish and fishiness and at times there are echoes of Graham Swift's haunting eel-oriented masterpiece Waterland * Literary Review *
Subtle and engaging * Guardian *
Stylish and insightful ... With the pace and verve of a thriller * Independent *
Delightful ... Expertly constructed ... A true novelist with an engaging authorial voice and the imagination and skill to create a believable fictional voice * Evening Standard *
Glorious * Mail on Sunday *

Raffaella Barker, daughter of the poet George Barker, was born and brought up in the Norfolk countryside. She is the author of seven acclaimed novels: Come and Tell Me Some Lies, The Hook, Hens Dancing, Summertime, Green Grass, A Perfect Life and Poppyland. She has also written a novel for young adults, Phosphorescence. She is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph, and teaches on the Literature and Creative Writing BA at the University of East Anglia and the Guardian UEA Novel Writing Masterclass. Raffaella Barker lives by the sea in north Norfolk. www.raffaellabarker.co.uk @raffaellabarker