In the shallows
Author Tanya Byrne opens up about writing the books she needed when she was a teenager and the power of queer joy
BY ROXY BOURDILLON
“I love this idea that you can be 15 and find the love of your life,” Tanya Byrne tells me. It’s a topic she explores in her brilliant new YA novel In The Shallows, which she describes as being about “second love but with the same person”. The absorbing book tells the story of 15-year-old Mara, who can’t stop thinking about her irresistible yet unattainable ex-girlfriend Nico. When Nico is mysteriously washed up on the beach with no recollection of who she is, Mara gets another shot at the relationship. But is Nico, as Mara’s friends suspect, the quintessential “fuck girl” destined to break her heart all over again? Or is there more to this than meets the eye?
Bursting with sapphic longing, In The Shallows perfectly captures the all-consuming nature of first love. People often ask Tanya, “How does a 47-year-old write a 15-year-old with their TikTok and their slang?” Nailing the tone is less about pop culture references and more about emotional authenticity. “A 15-year-old now and a 15-year-old 50 years ago still worry about the same things: loving, being loved, being understood, that betrayal of falling out with a best friend, or the heartbreaking moment when you realise your parents are fallible human beings. These are universal truths that we all feel.”