Surrounded By Water ~ Stephanie Butland ** BLOG TOUR ~ Review & Giveaway **

Elizabeth's world is turned upside down when her husband dies in a tragic drowning accident. 

How typical of her kind, generous husband - a respected police officer - to sacrifice his own life saving a complete stranger's.

Or so she thinks. 

What exactly was her husband doing at the lake that night? And what if his death isn't the most difficult thing she will have to deal with? 

Elizabeth must face the consequences of her husband's actions. As she does so, it seems that the end of Mike's life is only the beginning of his wife truly getting to know him.

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Surrounded By Water, the debut novel from Stephanie Butland ~ published in hardback by Bantam Press (Transworld) on 10 April 2014.

Elizabeth and Mike have lived a love story of fairy tales, although they have had their disappointments along the way, their love never faded. They were strong; best friends, lovers, running partners. Mike was generous and brave, a police officer who was dutiful and loyal.  Now Mike is dead.  Mike drowned in a nearby lake, doing what Mike did best - putting others before himself. Typical Mike ...... or was it?

Elizabeth's heartbreak and despair is palpable, she is broken, she cannot imagine life without Mike. She does not want to imagine it. She writes letters to her dead husband that are raw with grief, that express her love and her shattered heart. Mike was her one true love, she travelled across the world from her home in Australia to make a home with him in the small village where he grew up. Now she feels alone, despite being supported by Mike's two best friends and her sister Mel who has rushed across the world to be by her side, she cannot imagine how she will continue without him.  Mike's mother Patricia is also heartbroken by his death, but finds herself unable to comfort Elizabeth, everything she says seems to sound hurtful, everything she does is wrong.

Elizabeth wants to know why Mike died, what happened in those moments before he jumped into the lake to save nineteen-year-old Kate Micklethwaite?  Kate claims that she can't remember anything, she has no answers.

Told in the form of Elizabeth's letters to Mike, interspersed with scenes from 'Then', 'Between' and 'Now', this is an intensely moving and beautifully written story. Elizabeth's grief is raw, her pain seeps through the words that she writes to Mike and become more desperate and tragic with each letter.

The reader is always just one step ahead of Elizabeth and it is this that adds to the sorrow that I felt for Elizabeth, the anticipation of her reaction when she eventually finds out the truth is almost unbearable as she pours out her love to her beloved husband.

With powerful messages of hope, of disappointment, of secrets and of consequences, Surrounded By Water is a novel that draws the reader in from the first page. It is a journey of discovery; for Elizabeth, for Mike's friends and family and also for a young girl whose life will be changed for ever by secrets and lies.

A story to savour and to talk about. Stephanie Butland is a skilled author, it's very difficult to believe that this is her debut.






Stephanie Butland is a professional trainer specialising in creativity and thinking skills. She also uses her unique skills and first-hand experience to support people with cancer. She helps to raise awareness and funds for many charities and has written two books about her life with the illness.

She lives in Northumberland with her husband and two children.

For more information visit her website www.stephaniebutland.com
Twitter @under_blue_sky 


My thanks to Patsy Irwin from Transworld who kindly invited me to be part of this Blog Tour and is providing a signed hardback copy of Surrounded By Water as a prize in this giveaway. To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter widget below - UK entries only please.   Good luck


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