Mick Little has felt loss for most of his adult life. Moving from Glasgow, after the shipping yards all but disappeared to Australia, he and his family move round Australia until finally, tired and broken, Mick and the wife he adores, Cathy, return home where Cathy succumbs to cancer brought about by the asbestos carried by Mick throughout his working life. Most everyone, including Mick, blames him for Cathy death: his in-laws insist on providing their daughter with a funeral of their making, his son Craig is outwardly hostile, only his son Robbie tries to stand by his father, but even that is not enough to help a grieving, love lost man. Readers will feel helpless as they watch Mick slowly lose himself first in drink and then on the streets of London, trying to work through his grief, but only finding more. Mick is mired in the present, with no past to fondly recall nor has any future to look forward to, yet somehow through it all, Mick maintains a sense of dignity even as he spirals toward self-destruction. When it seems that all hope is lost, a tiny spark is lit and slowly glimmers, giving light to Mick’s present and possibly his future.
Told in the Scottish vernacular, often hard to understand, Waterline tells the story of common men and women who want simple things in life yet spend their entire lives searching for that one thing that constantly eludes them, often not realizing what it was until it is too late and gone. Often reaching the bottom is the only way we can begin to realize we are drowning and look for a way out. Ross Raisin writes with uncanny insight into human nature and makes Mick’s story everyone’s story, his failures ours and his triumphs ours, giving hope where there is none. A thoughtful and absorbing story whose characters will stay with you long past the last page.
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