The Last Wave [Paperback]

A beautifully rendered family drama set in Dover, England, between the 1940s and the present day,The Last Wavefollows the life of Martha, a woman who has swum the English Channel ten times, and the complex relationships she has with her husband, her children, and her close friends. The one constant in Marthas life is the sea, from her first accidental baptism to her final crossing of the channel. The sea is an escape from her responsibilities as a wife and a mother; it consoles her when she is diagnosed with cancer; and it comforts her when her husbands mind begins to unravel.

An intergenerational saga spanning six decades,The Last Waveis a wholly authentic portrait of a family buffeted by illness, intolerance, anger, failure, and regret. Gillian Best is a mature, accomplished, and compelling new voice in fiction.

The Last Waveis an intergenerational saga that follows the life of Martha, a woman who has swum the English Channel ten times, and the complex relationships she has with her husband, her children, and her close friends.

U.S. OUTREACH:

• The Last Wavewill be available on NetGalley and Edelweiss and has been submitted to Indies Introduce. We intend to bring Gillian Best, who is incredibly charismatic, to Winter Institute in 2018.

REVIEW COPIES

• Publishers Weekly
• Booklist
• Kirkus Reviews

Those who likedThe Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Frywill enjoy Gillian BestsThe Last Wavefor its quiet, intense examination of a woman fleeing British familial agony for the seas thrilling embrace. Kathleen Winter, Bestselling Author ofAnnabel

As in the sea so in life, we are something submerged and fight to rise, sometimes carried and lifted by others to less shifting ground. In this deftly woven and haunting debut novel, Gillian Best brings us, in many voices an across and throughlă•