Prizewinning author Cath Barton, who lives in Abergavenny, is releasing her second novella this month.

Entitled In the Sweep of the Bay, the warm hearted tale explores marriage, love and longing and is set against the backdrop of Morecambe Bay, the Lakeland Fells and the faded splendour of the Midland Hotel.

The story tells the tale of Ted Marshall who meets Rene in the dance halls of Morecambe and they marry during what the writer describes as ‘the frail optimism of the 1950s’.

Cath writes with fondness of her two main characters and readers will be transported back to the era where men were the breadwinners and the women stayed at home to look after the children and carry out all the domestic duties.

It is clear Ted loves Rene but both become a bit disillusioned with life and after he survives a heart attack both see it as a new beginning - but can love be rekindled?

Cath won the New Welsh Writing AmeriCymru prize for the novella in 2017 entitled The Plankton Collector which was published in September 2018 by New Welsh Review under their Rarebyte imprint.

She also writes short stories and flash fiction and is a regular contributor to Wales Arts Review.

In the Sweep of the Bay was published in paperback and e-book this week on November 23, price £7.99