I Knit Water

Book excerpt: Meet Mark Heron ... twenty-something, burned out and recently washed up at the West End house they call Heartbreak Lodge. Meet his new neighbours ... Steve, who won a local art prize and hasn't been able to finish a painting since; Agenes who looks like Malibu Barbie but dresses like a 40s schoolmarm; Dave, optimist, idealist, connoisseur of 'Star Wars' memorabilia and hard core porn; Sarah, compassionate mystic with a checkered past; Speedy a try-sexual Vietnam vet; Trix, rave chick diva and professional nutcracker; Errol ex-Olympic fencer, sliding into old age and dementia. Mark's life becomes interwoven with his fellow tenants, their stories overlaying to form pieces of a whole, . As events unfold that threaten to turn their world upside down, Mark finds he must either go under ... or learn to knit water.This novel deals with urban loneliness. It does not shy away from the difficult questions, the philosophies of life, or from its secrets. It is intelligent, insightful and above all movingly honest. The judges were impressed by Craig Bolland's deft characterisations, his perceptiveness and the gentle humour with which he reveals aspects of the human condition.