Top nomination for new book about coastal tensions

The book has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2026.

In On the Edge, Rhys lives in a small town on the Devon coast, where seasonal work dries up as winter storms hit, housing is hard to come by and livelihoods are threatened by distant bureaucrats. Life is much harder for Rhys and his two younger brothers than tourists can possibly know.

It is only when surfing that Rhys finds solace in the beauty around him: the crashing waves, towering cliffs and sandy beaches. But when that solace is taken, his tinder-dry rage is soon ignited. Determined to defend his family from a life blighted by social neglect and poverty, Rhys is drawn to Dodo, a radical political activist. Before long, Rhys' actions spiral out of control, with dire consequences for himself and those he loves…

“I have always been interested in Welsh history,” Nicola explains, “and I was reading about Meibion Glyndŵr (Sons of Glyndŵr – the paramilitary Welsh nationalist group responsible for a 12-year campaign of arson attacks and bombings from 1979 to 1992 against English-owned second homes in Wales).

“In the 1980s with the poll tax a lot of English people bought holiday homes in Wales and priced out the locals. Meibion Glyndŵr started a campaign of fire and arson against English holiday homes across Wales, and no one was ever caught. No one in Wales came forward and gave information leading to any arrests. No one gave any information. They were this very shadowy resistance group which was actually quite glamorous and well supported but they were harming their own community by burning down the cottages. They were wanting to make the point to the English.”

It all made Nicola think about her own childhood in Devon: “There are similar issues where working people can't afford to stay where they were born and grew up. And I wanted to think what would happen if a teenager down there became involved in a new Meibion Glyndŵr movement. He is 17 years old and is idealistic and he becomes radicalised and starts planning to burn down homes in Devon and Cornwall. It's a story about the consequences of not listening to people in coastal areas where there is high unemployment and where there are poor educational outcomes and all sorts of difficulties. These communities can only take so much before something goes pop.

“But his radicalisation leads to tragedy for his family. I was wanting to show the dangers of extremism, but the fact is that a lot of these coastal areas are misrepresented in the media and don't feel that their voices are being heard.”

Nicola is also the author of the critically-acclaimed 29 Locks and its sequel 21 Miles. Having been a teacher in inner London for more than 20 years, she now lives in West Sussex with her wife, three children and dog.

There are signed copies of the new book available in The Petworth Bookshop. Nicola will also be speaking to the Chichester Literary Society on Wednesday, January 7, 2pm-3.30pm at Boxgrove Village Hall, Chichester, PO18 OEE.