THE WATER SHINE

London 2016. A journalist recovering from a major car accident is researching a piece about survivors of near-death experiences. Nat has a collection of clippings about individuals who shouldn't be alive - but there is one person on his list who Nat has not yet ticked off. Nina, the young British girl pulled out of the water off New Zealand's windswept Karekare Beach, has disappeared. He can find her family. Even her ex-boyfriend. But shortly after her almost-death, Nina returned home to Wales – and promptly vanished. As Nat begins his search, we hear Nina's story: from the moment she is rescued from the shining water off New Zealand, to the day she returns to her family home. Nat's search leads him to a young woman in Cornwall who resembles Nina, even shares her birthday. But who can identify her? Nina's ex-boyfriend doesn't want to know. Her mother is ill. Her stepfather is in prison. Nat's own personal life is in a sorry state. It is unclear if his absent girlfriend has or hasn't left him. In Cornwall, he is drawn to the maybe-Nina. But has he found the missing woman? Or is Nina really dead, drowned a second time, in the shining waters off Wales?

Rye Robinson is a writer and traveller, currently based in the UK. Rye grew up in semi-rural NW England, wading in ponds, catching frogs and reading everything in the library fiction section, from Georgette Heyer to Wuthering Heights. After spells in Yorkshire and London, Rye took to writing as a means of escape from the 220 bus route, working on pads of paper on the top deck, and in the gaps between other things. Between (and during) journeys, Rye works as an editor and proofreader, and in television in a variety of editorial roles. Travels abroad include in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.