This warm-hearted tale explores marriage, love, and longing, set against the majestic backdrop of Morecambe Bay, the Lakeland Fells, and the faded splendour of the Midland Hotel.Ted Marshall meets Rene in the dance halls of Morecambe and they marry during the frail optimism of the 1950s. They adopt the roles expected of man and wife at the time: he the breadwinner at the family ceramics firm, and she the loyal housewife. But as the years go by, they find themselves wishing for more…
After Ted survives a heart attack, both see it as a new beginning. But can a faded love like theirs ever be rekindled?
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In The Sweep of the Bay by Cath Barton was published by Louise Walters Books in November 2020. I bought my signed copy direct from the publisher some years ago and it's been sitting on my shelf ever since. Sadly, the publisher is no longer around, but used copies of this book can be bought online.
A novella of just over 100 pages in the print copy, I read this one afternoon in Corfu, sitting with a coffee and a slice of apple and cinnamon pie on the sea front. It is a beautiful read, and it is a very talented author who can create such a wonderful story that totally absorbs the reader with so few words.
It is the story of a marriage. Ted and Rene were married in the 1950s after meeting at a dance hall in Morecambe Bay. Theirs was a steady relationship, just the normal. No fireworks, not a great deal of passion but a mutual love and respect for each other. They settled in the town and Ted worked in the family pottery firm, becoming well known for his fine paintwork. Rene stayed at home and raised their children.
There are no huge twists, or extraordinary events in their story. It is a detailed and quite exquisite examination of ordinary folk. We are privy to Ted's moods, to recognise Rene's frustrations, we also realise that she feels unfulfilled, but unsure of how else to live her life.
The author allows her readers to see life through the younger generations too, their daughter, their granddaughter, and there's also a glimpse into another family. Far away in Italy, tied to the Marshalls by a painted vase that they own and display proudly in their home.
Written with such tenderness, this is a story that the reader cannot help but be touched by. It's the age-old trope of the ordinary people, living ordinary lives but also being so special, so unique and so utterly human.
It's really quite perfect and highly recommended by me.
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She won the New Welsh Writing AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella in 2017 for The Plankton Collector, which was published in September 2018 by New Welsh Review under their Rarebyte imprint.
She also writes short stories and flash fiction and, with her critical writing, is a regular contributor to Wales Arts Review. In the Sweep of the Bay is her second novella.
www.cathbarton.com
X @CathBarton1
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