On Writing Longshore Drift

By Bronwen Griffiths

I live near the south coast of England, close to the ancient town of Rye. Rye is famous for its old cobbled streets, its ancient inn which is called The Mermaid and for its literary folk. Henry James lived in Rye, as did Rumer Godden, and many other literary figures.

Rye is close to Romney Marshes and to the famous shingle bank of Dungeness, the second largest shingle bank in the world. My novel, Longshore Drift is set in a fictitious Dungeness. I have played with the geography of the place and got rid of its nuclear power station but many of the other historical and coastal details are correct. For example, a series of large storms in the 13th century which drowned the town of Winchelsea did occur, although no one is entirely sure what caused these storms. 

I have named my fictitious Dungeness, The Point. In the novel, this is also a large shingle spit, and this is where my four main characters end up living, though they have all lived in other locations before this. The Point is a place adrift like its characters. Storms come and go, the shingle shifts, the lighthouse beam comes and goes. Longshore drift is also a geographical term which describes how the shingle drifts from west to east due to our prevailing winds and currents.

After Joe’s mother and sister die in a house fire in Birmingham, his father vanishes and his uncle Nelson moves them into an old hut on The Point. Nelson decided to move to The Point because he knows it. As a child he visited because his grandmother lived there.

We meet Joe and Nelson at a time when Joe is becoming suspicious about the circumstances of his mother and sister’s death five years previously. Now fourteen-year-old Cassie arrives on The Point with her mentally fragile mother Sylvie, fleeing their chaotic London life. As Sylvie’s grip on reality crumbles, Cassie finds herself drawn to Joe and his uncle Nelson. But then Nelson reveals a devastating secret about Joe’s family, placing Cassie’s friendship and burgeoning romance with Joe on precarious footing. 

This is a story of buried secrets surface and tested loyalties, and a story of the healing power of our wild places. It also features a mermaid, although you, the reader, will have to decide if she is real or not.

I was inspired to set the novel in a version of Dungeness because, like many others, I have been drawn to the stark beauty of the place. I am also a photographer and artist – I took the photos which feature on the front cover. As for my characters, the two teenagers, Joe and Cassie, were inspired by the teenagers I have worked with over the years. I am retired from paid work now but I was in arts education all my life working with schools and community groups, and I also spent time in a secondary school working with young people who were on the verge of being expelled. 

My own mother does not resemble Cassie’s mother, Sylvie, but my mother did work in mental health all her life and, as a result, I grew up learning a lot about mental health. As for Nelson, he is composite of the many kind older men I have met in my life. Men often get a bad rap these days and we are more aware of predators and abusers but I wanted Cassie to have a much-needed father figure. Nelson is a flawed character. Burdening a girl like Cassie with his secret is morally suspect but he really cares for both Cassie and her mother and supports them both without judgement.

I wrote this novel some years ago when I first attended a writing course in my local town of Hastings. It didn’t manage to find a publisher although it got quite close. Last year I decided to get it out of the drawer, re-write it and self-publish it. 

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Bronwen lives in East Sussex, UK, close to the coast where Longshore Drift is set. This is her third published novel, she also published two collections of flash fiction. Her flash fiction has been published in a number of journals both in print and online. She won the Mslexia Flash Fiction prize in December 2024, and was included in the Wigleaf Top 50 in the same year.

Longshore Drift

The day after Joe’s mother and sister died in a suspicious house fire, his father vanished without a trace. Now Joe lives with his uncle Nelson on a remote shingle spit called The Point, but he’s starting to suspect his uncle is hiding dark secrets about that terrible night.

Fourteen-year-old Cassie arrives at The Point with her mentally fragile mother Sylvie, fleeing their chaotic London life. As Sylvie’s grip on reality crumbles, Cassie finds herself drawn to the mysterious Joe and his uncle Nelson, who paints mermaids but also harbours a devastating secret about Joe’s family.

When Nelson reveals the shocking truth about his affair with Joe’s mother – and what really happened the night of the fire – Cassie faces an impossible choice: protect Joe from a truth that will shatter him, or risk losing the boy she’s falling for.

As buried secrets surface and loyalties are tested, Joe must confront his father and uncover the real story behind his family’s tragedy. But some truths are too painful to bear, and on The Point, where the sea meets the shore, damaged souls must find their way back from the edge.

A haunting tale of love, loss, and the healing power of wild places.

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Category: On Writing