n the 1980's Jo and her husband Pete moved from Sussex to take a job on a remote Scottish Highland stalking estate. They find themselves living on the shores of a remote Scottish sea loch in an isolated cottage only reachable by boat, and ten rough sea miles from the nearest town. With no electricity, no telephone, their only water supplied from a nearby stream and their only source of heat a wood and peat-fired stove, Jo's sense of culture shock and frustration is soon replaced by a resonance with the wild, natural environment she inhabits. Jo's story of her life at Caolas, overlooking dark loch waters open to the sea, surrounded by mountains and isolated from the rest of Scotland, is reminiscent of Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water in its ability to capture the raw beauty underscored with a layer of eeriness that the remote Scottish wilderness evokes. With its starkly beautiful descriptions of a landscape which would ultimately claim her husband, its cast of unique characters who move in and out of the story, and its haunting and redemptive conclusion, The Swirling Tide is a tragic, moving, sometimes hilarious and inspiring read for anyone who has ever contemplated leaving the life of the city far behind.