‘The swimmer of the Grand Canal revelled in the water, not a care in the world, euphoric with delight. Whatever might exist around, below, above her, she gave no thought to it.’

“Gorgeous….a kind of bottled perfection,” Catherine Taylor, Financial Times

Written in impossibly beautiful prose, Thomas explores the connection she feels to her childhood home on the Atlantic coast of France and the obsession with the sea she inherited from her mother. Complicated and often inscrutable, Thomas’ mother was fettered by domestic life, but was once the kind of girl who dived into the moat at the Palace of Versailles.

Memories of Low Tide is Chantal Thomas’ search for that effervescent girl, the quest to understand her, and an exploration of the ways she truly is her mother’s daughter.

Dive in and read an extract here…