Book excerpt: On the promenade of a small Lancashire seaside town stands the Bright Water Hotel. It is a strangely familiar place. Behind the faded grandeur of its Victorian façade, the lives of guests, visitors and staff intersect, overlap, inter-connect. People arrive from many different places, and their histories, expectations and experiences are laid bare in this selection of 13 short stories. For some, the Bright Water Hotel is a place of hope but for others the past present and the future collide in unexpected ways. In these stories, the spaces between the comings and goings of a rich cast of characters are explored.Unlikely encounters, destructive passions, secrets, memories and revelations jostle side by side. The Bright Water Hotel is a place where everyone has something to hide.