My Side of the Ocean

Accomplished American artist Stella Wright’s beachside home in Cape Town is perched on the edge of land and sea, safety and vulnerability, the domestic and the wild. When Stella takes an afternoon swim, she is unprepared for the drama that unfolds. She and a nearby surfer are tracked by a giant great white shark that swims close enough so she can look it in the eye, leaving the two of them deeply traumatised. The surfer – Ben – is a waterman who paints trawlers for a living. There is an almost instant attraction between them, but Stella is married to wealthy American financier Jack Barlow, and she and her husband are preparing to leave the country. Stella and Ben begin a passionate affair. The two of them must face their fear of the water; Stella because beaches and oceans form the basis of her art, Ben because surfing is his passion. Into this situation Jack returns from overseas to tie up their affairs and bring Stella back to New York. Stella must make a choice between the man who has reawakened her original passion for art, and the man who can give her everything else the world has to offer. My Side of the Ocean is a novel of great empathy and insight, exploring essential questions about what it means to live, and love, when the secure foundations of a life have been ripped away.

Ron Irwin is a senior lecturer in the Centre for Film and Media at the University of Cape Town. His debut novel, Flat Water Tuesday (2013), was Book of the Month for The Buffalo News and the Target Book Club, and has been optioned for film.

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