Summerwater

This novel by Sarah Moss is about holiday goers occupying cabins at a vacation site in Scotland. The story unfolds over the course of a single summer day, the longest day of the year. The torrential rain has kept everyone confined and boredom has set in. The only distraction is surreptitiously watching their temporary neighbours. All are annoyed by an Eastern European group who hold ear-splittingly loud parties that keep everyone awake at night, creating more tension. Each short section is told from the perspective of a different occupant. A wife runs to get time away from her cloddish husband, a young couple focuses on sex, a teenage boy kayaks in dangerous waters, his sister wishes she were dead. A young girl bullies another child. A husband takes the kids out to give his wife some alone-time and she doesn't know what to do with it, another wife cleans obsessively. An older couple has been holidaying here for thirty years, she is now suffering from dementia, he's a bigot.

This is an atmospheric novel with an undercurrent of dread. Moss skillfully conveys so much in very few words. There is marital dysfunction, mental illness, adolescent angst and xenophobia, all inflated by the unrelenting bad weather and forced confinement. The ending is abrupt and shocking.

I rarely like stream-of-consciousness style novels but this one had me totally engaged. Summerwater is one of the best books I have read in 2021. I am so glad to have discovered Sarah Moss and I look forward to reading more of her books.