Afloat [Hardcover]

`Fresh, energetic and genuine . . . reminiscent of The Time
Traveller's Wife'

`An appealing debut . . . successfully portraying the eroticism
of young love'

`An intriguing tale of summer love told in teasing retrospect . .
. lovingly evoked, the more so for McCartney's sly humour and the
mood-perfect banter'

`Afloat contains some of the most evocative writing I've read all
year ... the prose is clearly defined and etched with care . . . Beautiful
language which she lets breathe and swell, invoking much more than what
first appears on the page'

'This is a deeply moving and evocative debut from a young Canadian
novelist with an extremely rosy future. Afloat is the story of Bell, who
spends a drunken tourist season on Mackinac Island on Lake Michigan forming
relationships which echo through the years in this daring yet
tenderly-wrought depiction of the confusion of young love.'

It is the summer of 2000 and Bell, a student from Minnesota, is employed at an elite restaurant on Mackinac Island. With a circumference of just nine miles and no automobiles allowed, this unique resort on Lake Michigan is teeming with horse-drawn carriages, top-shelf vodka, bicycles, smoked whitefish and inspiring relationships. Forty years later, Bell is stranded in her St Paul home clearing away the belongings of a lifetime while she awaits the arrival of a guest from that deceptively idyllic summer. "Afloat" is an exquisitely distilled exploration of material and spiritual values and - equally - a riveting story of loyalty, betrayal and survival.