Breakwater

First published in 2001, Breakwater is the critically acclaimed debut novel by the author of The New Ships (VUP, May 2018).

A young woman and the baby she didn't plan, an older woman and the daughter she might lose, are brought together by the accidents of life in this moving first novel.

In her first year of university Ella finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, and coincidentally finds herself a comfortable place in the home of a new friend, Tessa. But no sooner is the baby born than Tessa is seriously injured in a car accident, and as her mother, Louise, struggles to cope, Ella becomes more withdrawn and preoccupied. Relationships become strained and then sundered--until finally a chance moment of reconciliation in Louise's Breakwater Caf .