In 1988 the Piper Alpha oil platform off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland exploded, killing 167 men. The Waves Burn Bright is a deeply effecting, sensitive exploration of its devastating aftermath on one family.
Carrie Fraser is 16 when the disaster occurs, her father Marcus one of the survivors. As the narrative moves between past and present the trauma blows open existing fractures, tearing the family apart. In adulthood and after many years living abroad, Carrie, now a respected volcanologist, is returning to Aberdeen to deliver a controversial academic paper. Carrie and her father are estranged, partly due to his post-traumatic stress and related alcoholism, a legacy of Piper Alpha. Will a reconciliation be possible or will the aftershocks of a tragedy that occurred 25 years before continue to drive father and daughter apart?
'A cauldron of a book, bubbling with anger and magma which might at any moment spill over and bring further devastation. It is both particular to this tragedy in 1988, but also universal; a compelling story exploring how a father's trauma sends shock waves through a family, changes the pattern of lives - particularly his daughter's - and makes love risky. However, as well as being about damage and running away, it is also about healing.'
Linda Cracknell, author of Call of the Undertow and Doubling Back
'it wasn't so much that Maloney's characters had made an impact on my world, but that I had entered theirs... simply a cracking good read.' Alison Miller, author of Demo
Autorentext
Iain Maloney was born in Aberdeen and now lives in Japan where he teaches English and writes about travel, literature and music. He studied English at the University of Aberdeen, has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow and, as a writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, has been published in journals and anthologies around the world. In 2013 he was shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize. Following the success of his first novel First Time Solo, Iain published Silma Hill in 2015, followed by The Waves Burn Bright in 2016.