Incredibly emotional story over two generations: Sylvia, who as a small child has strong emotions, is very observant but lacks confidence in her intellect and her looks. Feeling lost and often out of place, when she meets Bobby, a visiting Scotsman on a break from his work on the North Sea oil rigs, her whole world lights up. Together, married and with a small baby daughter Hannah, they move to Shetland where Bobby has bought a small (damp) house and they start their new life with Bobby working two weeks on then two weeks off. In a strange land with a baby and feeling unwelcome in the community, Sylvia has plenty of time to continue her diary, a journal that she has kept since she was a teenager that leads the reader through her story, the diary that Hannah has kept hidden - a story that tortured her young life, never left her in peace and has now resurfaced, spreading tentacles of fear through her. Fear for her whole way of life and her sanity.

A beautifully written debut novel.
A tragic story about trauma, grief and redemption. I couldn’t put it down, I loved it from the first page.
It’s wonderfully atmospheric, powerful, harsh and thought provoking. The Shetland Islands are captured perfectly and the characters of Jane and her mother are well developed. A brilliant exploration of post natal depression and mother/daughter relationships.
It’s a sad story well told in a dual timeline of past and present with Jane’s mothers story told in diary excerpts.
Such a brilliant captivating and compelling read. Highly recommend. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future @RebeccaPert. Definitely a story that will stay with me for a long time. So worth the 5* rating.
Thanks to #NetGallery @HarperCollinsUK @HarperFiction for an eARC of #StillWater in exchange for an honest review.
Book publishes 23 June 2023.

A thoughtful exploration of motherhood, love and mental illness that takes the time to look at the issues properly. Well written and a good story.

Still Water is a beautifully written book centred on some really intense subject matter.
It explores some of the darkest realms of the mind, but in a respectable and presumably accurate manner.

There is a tremendous amount of sadness, which is thankfully countered by hope, acceptance, and understanding as we bounce between two timelines. The first being Jane’s mothers, portrayed through diary entries, and the second being Jane herself, as she grapples with new revelations and the impact the past could have on possible futures.

This was an easy flowing enjoyable read.

Still Water is my favourite read of this year so far; it is a stunningly beautiful and moving novel exploring loss and grief and uncovering the past. It follows Jane in the present as she is making a life for herself in the place where her mother disappeared years earlier but we also get to read a lot of her mother's journal in the lead up to her going missing. I found the exploration of mental health so raw and honest. The depiction of grief and the way Jane tries to move on but is also still held in the limbo of what might have happened is stunning. It's hard to read at times but also impossible to put down. I adored this book, I don't think enough superlatives exist for me explain just how much. I highly recommend this one and I can't wait to read more by this author!

Sadly I just could not get into this book. It was well written and based on 2 time lines. The descriptions in the Shetlands was dramatic and haunting. There was nothing that drew me in to want to finish the book. Thanks to Net Galley for an ARC,

A haunting debut, Still Water weaves an unflinching cross generational narrative about motherhood, trauma, and mental illness through the lens of Jane reading her long missing mother's diaries when, years after she had disappeared, her prosthetic arm is found in a flooded quarry. Darkly poetic, the novel handles difficult topics with beautiful and immersive prose right through to its final pages.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this arc.

"Still Water" is the story of Jane Douglas, who is living a small, quiet life on the Shetland Islands. She works in the salmon factory, looks out for her elderly neighbour, and tries to avoid thinking about the past. But when Jane receives a call from the police to tell her they have possibly found the remains of her long-missing mother, her whole world tilts on its axis.

Jane has been living in fear that she has inherited her mother's demons. Knowing it is time to finally confront the past and face her future, she turns to her mother's diaries for answers...but what she finds there may change everything.

I could rave about this book all day. Suffice to say I LOVED it. The prose is exquisite, and even though on the surface the book is about a woman with a very still, small life, it's full of drama and tenderness and redemption.

"Still Water" is such a multi-layered title, too; no spoilers, but the title comes to have so many meanings. The still water of the quarry where Jane's mother's remains are found, the still waters of Jane's life, the truth that still waters run deep, which threads through the whole novel, and then the darker, more terrible still waters that come later in the book.

I will be recommending this to everyone I know. Heartbreaking, delicate, matter-of-fact, thrilling, and terrifying all at once, this is a novel I will be thinking about for a long time. I can't wait to read more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, and to the publisher, for granting me a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Still Water is a darkly heart-wrenching, poetic novel I couldn't put down. Jane's mother, Sylvia, disappeared when Jane was young so what happened to her is a mystery. Tension builds as Jane copes with her own turmoil upon reading her mother's newly found diaries began when Sylvia was a girl before, and during, pregnancy and beyond. It is a visceral tale that does not shy away from painful thoughts and deeds, be warned.

An emotive read, the power of description makes even the smallest, inconsequential element palpable and raw. It is beautifully wrought making flesh and blood of Jane, Sylvia and the deep intense emotions and thoughts that drive them both. Not for the faint of heart, this story packs an emotional punch that will stay with me well beyond finishing the final page. To say I loved it feels disrespectful and flippant but the heavy anguish perfectly suited the chilly rain pelting down as rough waves beat the coast. I couldn't be in a better setting to read this novel. I have been touched by it and am in awe of the skill to draw forth such powerful feelings. An exceptional way to start 2023.

A really good book with lots to digest along the way. Jane is a great character in that you don't know whether you like her or not to begin with until you push further through.

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover. Simply stunning and gives insight into what the book is about. The second thing was the award the author won at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. I knew I’d be in for a fabulous ride.

Jane Douglas returns to the Shetland Islands where she spent her childhood. Her boyfriend, Mike, is a fisherman—loving, kind, everything you’d want in a partner. But she is haunted by why her mother disappeared when she was a child. When the police find her mother’s prosthetic arm in a quarry, Jane delves into her old diaries. The 1979 chapters are written in a dual narrative timeline, revealing secrets from her mother’s past. Jane’s chapters are delivered in the present day with much to contrast and compare. .

Still Water deals with post-partum psychosis and the complexities of where she fits in. So not an easy read for some. An unplanned pregnancy and first baby blues, I found these early chapters well developed and fascinating. The baffling apathy due to being unable to bond with her baby is sensitively delivered. As a little girl, Silvia’s arm is her greatest concern. Desperate to hide it, she will do anything get a prosthesis. This is how her journey begins.

The book is gently and sensitively written and I didn’t find these sections demanding. I found myself being taken on an UnPutDownable ride where we are privy to her inner thoughts. It’s a moody, broody read with evocative descriptions that take you right there. It’s no wonder the book has become a word-of-mouth success.

Many thanks to the author and publisher @boroughpress, and to @netgalley for the privilege of reading this book.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I was completely drawn into the topic and could not stop reading it.

This book was haunting in such a beautiful way. I loved the dual perspective narrative to help compare and contrast their differences. The exploration of mental health, in a time that just didn't understand the serious nature of it, was so sad.

I thought this book was brilliant. A dark emotional tale, confidently told by this debut novelist. Really atmospheric and compelling

Deeply atmospheric and visceral, with hugely evocative descriptions of everything from windswept Scottish islands to the bloodied floor of a fish-canning factory. Deals powerfully with trauma and recovery, and the ways in which our own past informs our present. I don't want to say much more as I think this is one you really need to read to appreciate, but highly recommend!

Thank you to Net Galley for an advance copy of this book. What can I say except I really liked it. It was about remembering the past to forget it and move on. There are some troubling subjects written about but all handled sensitively….. subjects which sadly do need to be brought out into the open.

The story is about Jane previously known as Hannah, who comes to terms with her past and her fears by reading her mother’s diary, much of which is heart wrenching, honestly written by a young mother suffering from what we now know as post natal depression. Jane goes through torment, fearing her genes could carry a dangerous future for anyone she loves. She battles her terrible fears and finally confronts them.

I loved the contrast and similarities between The Shetland Isles and Devon …. there were some beautiful descriptions particularly of Unst and I enjoyed learning some new words such as ‘peerie’. Read this book to find out more! A great read!

Read this in a day, a very hot day, the cold conditions of the Shetland islands were refreshing.
The seventies when an unplanned pregnancy was a disaster and in this case an absolute tragedy.
Sylvia is a thalidomide baby, how she feels and how she is treated by strangers are sensitively described. When she meets Bobby he is the man of her dreams, getting pregnant at sixteen was not part of her dream, she is supported by her friends and family and goes to live is the cold, isolated and unwelcoming Shetlands,
Sylvia never had chance to bond properly with her premature baby Hannah and suffers from depression, which is never fully resolved. The portrayal of the depression and her perception of it are truly frightening.
Hannah is haunted by her upbringing and struggles with her life,

An incredibly atmospheric book, that I read in a couple of sittings. Still Water is a powerful, skilfully-written debut novel, both in terms of style and of construction. The main narrative follows the story of Jane, a young woman traumatised by what her mum did before disappearing when she herself was still just a child, and is interspersed with extracts from the diaries of said mum Sylvia. The plot goes back and forth between the late 70s/80s and the 21st century, between Devon and the awe-inspiring islands of Shetland. It's a dark but beautiful and empathetic novel about mental health, family trauma and postpartum psychosis, with complex characters and dramatic landscapes. Highly recommended.

Really enjoyed this book, read it very quickly, really makes you consider the cycle of trauma and nature vs nurture

This is a beautifully written novel dealing withtrauma, grief and human frailty. It's extremely atmospheric and the cold, hard, environment is almost like an additional character. Rebecca Pert writes respectfully and accurately about post-natal depression and the attitudes and ignorance that existed regarding this condition. It's very sad book in places but ultimately redemptive and a celebration of recovery.