Adam Wilderness

On the Pavement of the Tides Adam Wilderness

Imagine that on a solitary coastal walk you watch a lone ballerina dancing on an embankment, outlined above the marshes against a full moon. Who is she? Why does she come here? Simon, a bespectacled Jewish librarian and reformed drunkard, finds his life turned inside-out by just such a vision. He spies on the girl and cannot rest until he discovers the strange truth about her.

But he is involved with Suzy, a dreamy misfit who works at a tripe shop, and with Roger, her brute boyfriend, in a bizarre non-Euclidean love triangle. They strive to make sense of Southport, an English seaside town where feral wallabies, hooded parades, terrorists and invisible stranglers complicate life.

When Simon finds out that his vanished father was a diamond thief, rumours of hidden loot and offers of violent death abound. But the course of true love is as bent as a dog's hind leg. Through moments of dark comedy and mild horror, Suzy and Simon battle their way toward a happy ending.

This offbeat satire is for anyone who likes to see a bohemian romance win out against the odds in the surreal modern world.