When 52-year-old Willow arrives at a rental cottage in a far-flung island off the coast of Ireland, she determinedly keeps herself to herself. The cottage is small and unheated, with a modest kitchen and a bedroom with a single bed. Unpacking some hair clippers, she sets about shaving her shoulder-length blond hair to the “uncomplicated blunt crop of a hard-working country woman”.
Willow, who was previously called Vanessa, apparently does not wish to be recognised among her island neighbours, who are understandably nosy about new arrivals. In her old life she was married for 28 years to Brendan, a swimming coach who is now in jail (the nature of his crime, and the ensuing scandal, becomes apparent later on). The couple had lived in Dublin and had two children, one of whom died tragically young. The other, now an adult, barely speaks to Willow who sends her intermittent texts and stares at her phone willing her to reply.
Told in the first person, this novella from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author John Boyne is the first in a quartet of interlinked titles named after the elements. Water is a moving reflection on grief, betrayal and what it is to try to escape from one’s past. Death in Paradise actor Niamh Cusack is the narrator, her delivery capturing the heartbreak, fury and underlying defensiveness of a woman whose life has been upended by the actions of a man. Left alone with her memories, Willow must confront some difficult questions, chief among them: was she oblivious to her husband’s crimes or wilfully blind?
• Available via Penguin Audio, 4hr 38min
Further listening
Ootlin
Jenni Fagan, Penguin Audio, 9hr 24min
Isis Hainsworth reads Fagan’s powerful and candid memoir chronicling her early life growing up in the care system.
Songbird
An Intimate Biography of Christine McVie
Lesley-Ann Jones, John Blake, 9hr 48min
This detailed account of the life of the late Fleetwood Mac singer and keyboardist, born Christine Perfect, is read by Lucy Tregear.
