A novel

Undercurrent

Patricia Reay

No secret stays buried forever — and every action has its tide.

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Undercurrent by Patricia Reay, hardback edition: Table Mountain at sunset above a wave-shaped division, with the two Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey in deep blue water below.

Successful, respected, powerful. Beneath the surface, a secret capable of destroying everything he holds dear.

Undercurrent by Patricia Reay
[Publisher]
[Publication date]
[ISBN 000-0-00-000000-0]
[000 pages]

The Novel

Undercurrent

From the Channel Islands to Cape Town, lives that seem worlds apart are bound by one man's choices. Successful, respected and powerful, he has built a life that appears untouchable.

But beneath the surface lies addiction, deception and a secret capable of destroying everything he holds dear. When betrayal fractures trust, the consequences ripple across continents. Families are torn between loyalty and truth. Love is tested. Reputations crumble. And those left in the wake must decide whether to sink under the weight of duplicity — or fight their way back to the light.

Set against the windswept shores of Jersey and Guernsey and the fierce beauty of South Africa, Undercurrent is a compelling international drama about power, passion and the hidden forces that shape our lives. Because no secret stays buried forever — and every action has its tide.

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Early Readers

What readers are saying

“The intrigue builds so quietly that you don't notice how deep you are until the duplicity starts surfacing. I genuinely could not put it down.”
Janet Lambert
“Definitely a page-turner. You are drawn into the varied characters and locations, in the Channel Islands and South Africa. Apparently there is a sequel on the way, Crosscurrent — can't wait!”
Sarah Gill
“An unflinching portrait of addiction and the smuggling that feeds it, and the townships are drawn with real care — nothing is simplified. Every character is properly rounded. A really interesting and enjoyable debut.”
Chris McCallum

Comments from readers of the manuscript. Undercurrent has not yet been reviewed in the press.

First Pages

Chapter One · Will

Patricia Lamont stroked her swollen belly as her unborn child rolled and twisted inside her. A tiny foot pressed outward, and she laughed softly, resting her hand against the firm push.

‘Oh, you're going to be a little gymnast, aren't you?’ she murmured. ‘Just like your father, always on the move.’

She was deeply in love with the child growing within her. Every hiccup, every flutter, every sudden kick filled her with awe and gratitude. After years of heartbreak, each movement felt like a small miracle.

Patricia had always dreamed of being a traditional mother. When she married Giles, she'd left behind her successful accountancy career without hesitation, imagining a house full of noisy, muddy children. But, after four miscarriages in ten years, hope had slowly slipped from her grasp like sand through open fingers.

Now, at forty-three, with a little more weight around her hips and thighs and her once-immaculate wardrobe replaced by elasticated trousers and oversized jumpers, she had stopped caring what others thought. Her thick chestnut hair was now streaked with silver, often pulled into a loose bun. But none of that mattered. She was finally going to be a mother.

‘Giles,’ she said one evening as they sat together by the fire, ‘I've decided on a name.’

He turned his head toward her, a whisky in hand, and gave her a wry smile. ‘You're awfully confident for someone who doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl.’

‘It's a boy,’ she replied with certainty, patting her stomach. ‘He's strong. I feel it.’

Patricia Reay, sitting on a pebble beach in a white sun hat

The Author

Patricia Reay

I have spent over fifty years in the Channel Islands and, for the past twenty years, have spent long periods in Cape Town and Franschhoek. Two very different places, yet I feel a certain similarity between the two, and I really cannot decide which I prefer. They're equally alluring.

The idea for Undercurrent had been sitting quietly with me for years. It began as a feeling rather than a plot — an awareness of how much goes on beneath the surface in families and small communities. I've lived long enough in close-knit places to know that what appears settled is.

People carry histories. Decisions echo. Silence can be powerful.

For a long time, I told myself I was too busy to write a novel. Then, about a year ago, I stopped making excuses and started. Once I did, the story came up more easily than I expected, as though it had been waiting for me to catch up with it. It just seemed to evolve the more I wrote.

This book draws on landscapes and atmospheres I know well, but the characters and events are entirely imagined. Still, like most fiction, it is shaped by observation — by years of watching how people love, protect, betray and endure.

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