The Floating Island by Anna Ralph

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Set in the Lake District, this is the story of Matt, confined to a wheelchair since the accident which killed his younger brother, and Sarah, his feisty carer. Matt falls for Sarah but she is smitten by Matt's psychiatrist, Robert, who is helping Matt to deal with the loss of his brother in an incident he cannot even remember. Ralph has an ear for dialogue which many more experienced writers never master and an empathy for her characters it's impossible not to share. One for fans of Kate Atkinson and Maggie O'Farrell.

Synopsis by Foyles.co.uk

They say it's coming back. Before long the moon will find a shadow under the lake. Bubbles will rise and the shadow will spread to a stain. Then, in the night, in the dark, the floating island will surface. Here again. As it was a year ago. The day Tom died. It's almost a year since fifteen-year-old Matt and his younger brother, Tom, rowed out to the island. Matt, confined to a wheelchair and haunted by nightmares, can't remember what happened. Nor does he want to. Only when Sarah Bell, a tough, Geordie girl with a no-nonsense approach, takes up the newly vacant position of Matt's carer, do things begin to change for him.At first, resentful of her presence, he tries to drive her away, but she isn't like the other carers. She isn't like anyone he's ever met. Sarah's attention meanwhile, is focussed on Robert, Matt's psychiatrist. Mature, attractive and a world away from everything she knows, he seems to be exactly what she needs. But Robert, highly skilled at solving other people's problems, is struggling to deal with his own. As the floating island returns to the surface of the lake, Robert forces Matt to confront the truth about his brother's death, but also, unknowingly, exposes him to an adult world of passion, guilt, and betrayal...