Erosion Synopsis

A chalet collapses into the North Sea. The residents aren't in time to save it or its owners but can they or do they want to save themselves? New comer, Lizzie Juniper, finds herself enmeshed in a mystery that culminates with reverberations of the Gunpowder Plot.

'Erosion' is a contemporary novel set on Yorkshire's crumbling coastline. We think of erosion as a now familiar fall of rocks and earth into the sea, but in this novel it is the characters, not the landscape that hold the key to the collapse of a remote chalet park. A loner with nowhere left to go, twenty-four year old Lizzie Juniper finds herself in this forgotten community and she has to discover if it is really the sea that is taking away their lives or some other force that has the potential to undermine everything she is trying to build.

In the opening chapter, Lizzie witnesses the cliff crash into the North Sea. It takes with it one of the chalets and its owners. The residents not in immediate jeopardy are given five days to vacate. As chapters progress, fiery-haired Lizzie finds her new neighbours are reluctant to leave despite the approaching danger. Lizzie however, is determined that this time, her lover, Andrew Booth, owner of Moorland Castle, will do the right thing and let her stay in the Castle Gatehouse. With the entire area booked up for Halloween Weekend, she has nowhere else to go. Before he can do so however, he disappears and she is barred from re-entering the stately home where she worked as a guide. Each sun filled, late October day passes with some startling development whilst artist Jez paints their portraits, nationalist Randolph grows increasingly violent and a feast to mark the day of the dead is held.
Ex-bomb disposal expert Peter takes possession of mysterious parcels and the two remaining couples bake cakes, cook farewell dinners and reflect on the past.
When Jez paints LIzzie's portrait at the local art club, she finds her increasingly emotional self unexpectedly exposed under his scrutiny. This feeling of dropping the mask builds until later, he hides with her amongst the colourful fabrics in Marilyn's closet and she finds she can finally trust someone.
It is Plot Night; November 4th, the night before Moorland Castle's annual bonfire and firework display. Lizzie has almost worked out exactly what force is destroying the chalet park and its residents, what significance the portraits hold and why Peter is on a bus bound for Scarborough. A body lies in the Castle's double Priest Hide, surrounded by a last act of defiance and Randolph and Jez prepare a final farewell to the chalet park.
Leaving behind the Priest Hide and its secrets, Lizzie and Jez escape down the old smuggler's passage back to the beach where the cliff continues to crumble and Randolph chooses to remain. It is as though everything always leads back to the sea. Lizzie and Jez have one chance of a new life, but it isn't an easy choice.

'Erosion' is about more than a collapsing cliff face' it is about the disappearance of a way of life and what people with nothing left to lose are capable of when pushed to the edge.

'The cliff towered over them, looking painful like burnt, smarting flesh. The only movement being a gentle wind ruffling the scrub land grass. And then, without warning, the cliff began to move. Rivulets of soil crumbled gently, cascading like dusty waterfalls.'

'Erosion' holds something of the sweeping vistas of director David Lean's, 'Ryan's Daughter' and a flavour of the mystery of Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca.'