The Drowning

by Fiona Lowe

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Pub Date Feb 24 2026 | Archive Date Feb 23 2026

Harlequin Australia, HQ (Fiction, Non Fiction, YA) & MIRA | HQ

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Description

CC Cilento's best memories are of spending every summer holiday running wild in and out of the Friend family beach house with her cousins, James, Ollie, Felix and Lily. It's the next best thing to having brothers and sisters. They've continued the summer tradition into adulthood, getting together at the shack with its absolute beach frontage.
But now a bombshell has dropped: the four sibling cousins have officially inherited the property - along with an unexpected fifth share to CC. What starts out as the perfect gift, and a way of keeping the family connected forever, quickly devolves into an emotional power struggle. Half of them want to keep the legacy intact, while the others want to sell - and each side will do anything to make it happen. Soon, CC can't tell friend from foe.
When a body is found on the shack's beach, has this family dispute turned deadly?

CC Cilento's best memories are of spending every summer holiday running wild in and out of the Friend family beach house with her cousins, James, Ollie, Felix and Lily. It's the next best thing to...

A Note From the Publisher

FIONA LOWE has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker; an ideal career for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. She spent her early years in Papua New Guinea where reading set up a lifelong love of books. Fiona writes books that are authentic to Australians: they feature real people facing difficult choices and explore how family ties and relationships impact on their decisions. Fiona is based in Geelong, Victoria.

FIONA LOWE has been a midwife, a sexual health counsellor and a family support worker; an ideal career for an author who writes novels about family and relationships. She spent her early years in...

Advance Praise

PRAISE FOR THE DROWNING:

'A tale of beautiful-but-deadly-beaches, small-town tensions, family secrets and scheming siblings ... No one does dysfunctional families quite like Fiona Lowe. A terrific read.' - Cassie Hamer, author of The Stranger at the Table

PRAISE FOR FIONA LOWE:

'Lowe excels at writing about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. And she does it here with finesse. The Accident is a gripping read, and an excellent choice for book clubs.' - Weekend Australian, Notable Books

'Fiona Lowe's stories about secrets, families and moral dramas in small-town Australia always make for good long weekend reading, and The Accident is another engrossing tale.' - Canberra Weekly magazine

'Fiona Lowe's name is practically synonymous with rural mystery novels. The Accident is another gripping ride through drama and tragedy in an imaginary small town ... masterfully complex characters and a heavily emotional story that will make this book difficult to put down.' - GLAM Adelaide

'The WA wheatbelt is the backdrop for Lowe's engrossing new novel, loaded up with small-town scandal, secrets and lies ... there are twists aplenty, but the truth sure can hurt. Don't be surprised to read it in one sitting.' - The Herald Sun

PRAISE FOR THE DROWNING:

'A tale of beautiful-but-deadly-beaches, small-town tensions, family secrets and scheming siblings ... No one does dysfunctional families quite like Fiona Lowe. A terrific...

Available Editions

EDITION	Mass Market Paperback
ISBN	9781038921505
PRICE	A$32.99 (AUD)
PAGES	480

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