In The Sweep Of The Bay by Cath Barton

 

In The Sweep Of The Bay by Cath Barton.

Published 23rd November 2020 by Louise Walters Books.

From the cover of the book:

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?

“A tender and moving study of a marriage” Alison Moore, author of the Booker short listed The Lighthouse.

**********************************

What an absolute little gem of a novella! 

This is primarily the story of Ted and Rene, from the time of their meeting in the 1950's, all the way through their lives... and beyond to the reflections of their children and grandchild. It's heavy with the all too fleeting pleasures, the weight of expectation and duty, the grind of everyday drudgery, and the secret disappointments held inside from of a long marriage that follows an emotional ebb and flow through the years, that is so typical of many couples from this era. A couple who were bound to each other for better or for worse in a partnership that is not without enduring love, but who have forgotten how to be happy together - no matter how devoted they appear to outside eyes.

Through the years, we get a glimpse of the changing times in the way Cath Barton compares the relationship of Ted and Rene with the experiences of their own daughters and granddaughter - and interestingly also with the experiences, and observations, of an eclectic cast of walk-on parts from other characters that find themselves washed up in the sweep of Morecombe Bay. Every interaction, every innermost thought has a part to play as the threads of the story spin out over the years - lives touching in seemingly casual ways, but with undertones that have significance later down the line. 

"I look at them for quite a time, thinking and wondering, just wondering.

Realising how little we know of other people's lives, even our own parents. 

Perhaps especially our own parents."

As a child of parents who married in the 1950's there was a lot in this book that resonated with me - the feeling that so much was going on under the surface that was never spoken out loud was a big part of this, and the quirky way Eric Morecombe was worked into the story brought back so many happy childhood memories of Saturday night family TV viewing. If you are also of a certain age then you will find 'Bring Me Sunshine' is on a constant loop in your head for days after reading this!

Quite how Cath Barton manages to pack so much deep emotion into a novella that is only a smidge over 100 pages is a feat of beautiful writing, especially since this book covers such a wide time frame, but she chooses her words with such care that she wrings every ounce of feeling out of them - and trust me, you will feel every twang of the heartstrings with profound force. 

This is another winner from the fabulous indie publisher Louise Walters Books, and one that I can particularly recommend to fans of the wonderful Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, as it evokes many of the same poignant feelings. It's simply brilliant.

In The Sweep Of The Bay is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer or via the links below:

Louise Walters Books     Amazon UK     Amazon US     Foyles     Book Depository     Kobo     

Thank you to Cath Barton and Louise Walters for sending me a copy of this book, and to Emma Welton of Damp Pebbles Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Cath Barton lives in Abergavenny. 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.

Find out more about Cath Barton here:

LWB Books     Author's Twitter Page     Author's Website