FIFTY-FOUR DAYS

By Cat White, Phoebe Torrance

When tragedy strikes and Ruby's Dad takes his own life on the eve of his fifty-fourth birthday, her world is turned upside down. Feeling isolated and alone, she turns to wild swimming, determining to swim every day for 54 days in order to honour her Dad's memory.

At the water's edge she meets Gloria, an older woman whose no-nonsense, go-getting attitude eventually wins Ruby over. They bond as they share cups of tea, life stories and a love for the water. But things at home begin to fall apart. Ruby and her brother stop speaking. It takes another near tragedy for them to open up to each other. Eventually, Ruby is forced to recognise that she cannot just swim away from her problems, that grief comes in many different shapes and that though we may flounder we don't have to drown.