SAND ON YOUR PILLOW AND THE CHANNEL IN YOUR HEART
Ella Foote meets author Gillian Best for a swim and to talk about her new book, The Last Wave
GETTING ALONG SWIMMINGLY
“…but that was not the sea that had got into my bones. That was a picture postcard. What I knew was big and in constant motion, changing as and when its mood dictated. It was cold and wet and strong, a part of the world in a way that I was not, tucked up inside my one up one down house…”
Acollection of pebbles, The White Horse pub, Shakespeare Beach and the numbingly cold sea are all ingredients of Gillian Best’s debut novel – The Last Wave. These ingredients will be more familiar to some swimmers than others, but mixed together with a blend of strong characters, challenging relationships, crumbling health themes and stubborn courage, they make this book an accessible and enjoyable read about one woman’s life goal to swim the English Channel.
“I would love to be able to swim the Channel, but I haven’t,” says Gillian, surprisingly, when we meet. “To be that strong and in good shape… but I get cold in an indoor heated pool after an hour!”