A novel set in a west coast fishing community is the debut offering of former teacher and Scottish Book Trust children’s fiction new writer awardee, Strontian-based Sylvia Hehir.
In her thriller Sea Change, a small Highland community becomes the setting for a serious crime.
The cast of characters centres around teenager Alex, who is trying to keep his family afloat and negotiate the challenges of teenage relationships including coming to terms with his own sexuality.
Aimed at young adults, all the main characters in the novel are teenagers, including the perpetrator of the crime, the victim and the investigators.
Sea Change was winner of the Pitlochry Quaich in 2018 and was shortlisted for the prestigious Caledonia Novel Award in 2017. It is also in the running for the 2019 McIlvanney Debut Crime Fiction prize at this year’s Bloody Scotland festival in Stirling.
Having worked as a secondary school teacher, Ms Hehir says she is aware of how young peoples’ futures can be frustrated by obstacles not of their own making.
She said: “I wanted to create a young adult crime novel that doesn’t sidestep tricky issues. My aim was to capture those identity-defining moments when we are pushed right to the very edge.”
The novel is published by Edinburgh based Stirling Publishing.
