I QUIT: There's nothing unusual about waking through the slime of a dream about rape and loss and misery, but when I grope the pillow beside me for my fags, the first as yet unformed flutter of panic forces my eyes open.It’s true then. A feeling as intense as the death of a loved one...SALT CUTS: I could see them swagger down the hill, bulging poly bags thumping against their sides, like a warning.MARTIN AND ME: We never noticed how the tide had rushed silently past...

EDINBURGH IS MEANT TO BE a new start for the Gillespie family. Rachel has enrolled as a mature student at university, while Andrew is spending more time with the kids. But Rachel's 'new start' morphs into 'new affair' with fellow student, Ryan. Or is it Stevie?Either way, her lover is not what he seems. When the past surfaces in the guise of a name on Rachel's library ticket, the affair turns nasty. And then her teenage daughter unwittingly discovers the deceit and the family begin...