Borrowed Light

“One of the most talented and humane novelists that we have.”—John Connolly

Astra Sharp has a part-time job in the café run by her best friend, Connie, and a boyfriend who plays in a band. Life’s not perfect, but it’s not too bad. Then Connie’s little sister Angel shows up and everything starts to go to hell. It isn’t Angel’s fault if everyone falls in love with her: gorgeous Luke, boring Tim the accountant, Astra’s kid sister Gita. Set in scenic Cornwall, Borrowed Light is Daphne Du Maurier recast in a Quiksilver world.

Joolz Denby was born in 1955: at the age of 19, she married an outlaw biker—a member of the Satan’s Slaves. Billie Morgan was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2005.

Class struggle, romance and mayhem in a coastal resort in Cornwall

Publishers Weekly

Quirky life in a Cornish seaside town is interrupted by a cruel siren in this fourth novel by Brit Denby, an Orange Prize finalist for Billie Morgan. When Astra Sharp's mother is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she drops out of university and moves home to Polwenna, a beach town far off the beaten path, to become caretaker for her family, including her little sister Git, twin siblings Lance and Gwen, and her dentist father. Fast forward to Astra's 27th year, when this quiet life is interrupted by the arrival of her best friend Con's younger sister, Angel, a woman "who looked as near to an orchid as a human being could." Angel sows a classic kind of discord-men long for her and women feel inadequate around her-and in her presence the thin social fabric of the town soon falls apart. In particular, Astra's surfer-boy crush, Luke, and her brother, Lance, become infatuated with Angel, even as Astra yearns for romance and her family is desperate for cohesion. Denby has a knack for the odd description and captures the local rapid-fire dialect. Astra is gabby and ruminative, but the plot, like her reasoning, often seems to go in circles. (Aug.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Joolz Denby was born in 1955 in the North of England. She married an outlaw biker at 19. She regularly tours with cult underground band New Model Army and is an internationally respected spoken word artist and illustrator. Her novel Billie Morgan was shortlisted for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction.