Rising Water

Living aboard neighbouring boats in a crowded marina, Col, Baxter and Jackie are middle-aged fringe-dwellers. Each of them nurses secret wounds and anxieties, and although their vessels are ocean-going craft, none seems likely to ever leave the safe confines of the harbour. They are hiding from the world behind and beyond.

On Australia Day, drunk, lost and angry, a young English backpacker called Dee turns up on the jetty and her arrival unleashes chaos. Suddenly no secret is safe, nothing is fixed. As the nation celebrates, the cosy fantasy of safety from the past is blown open in a funny, bitter torrent of loose talk.

• Year of Publication: 2012
• Genre: Literature
• Audience: Adult