The Survivors

The novel opens in Evelyn Bay, Tasmania, where 30-year-old Kieran Elliot and his partner Mia are enjoying a day at the beach with their three-month-old daughter Audrey. As Kieran feels the bracing cold of the ocean water, he hears his brother’s voice in his head telling him that living in Sydney has made him soft. Kieran hears a voice call out and sees his friend Ash approaching with his dog. Ash is taken aback by Audrey’s beauty. Kieran and Ash reflect on their love of swimming in the frigid water, their favorite activity after a soccer game. The two became friends when Ash moved to Evelyn Bay from an impoverished mining town at age 15 after his parents’ divorce. They became competitive on the soccer field and bonded over their shared motivation to improve their skills. Kieran flashes back more than 10 years to the first time they met and the moment he realized the competition made them both better. In the present day, Kieran is a physiotherapist and Ash runs a landscaping business. Neither plays soccer anymore but both have stayed in good physical shape.

It has been nearly three years since Kieran has been home. He and Mia are in town to help his mother Verity move his father Brian, who suffers from dementia, into a nursing home. Kieran is overwhelmed by the process of packing the house and the emotional impact of seeing his parents in pain. Verity, who is still in excellent health, plans to live in a small home near the facility. Ash politely asks about his family, and Kieran explains the details of the move and his father’s decline. Sympathizing with the circumstances and offering to help with yard work, Ash invites Mia and Kieran out for a drink that evening with his partner Olivia Birch, one of their high school friends. Olivia lives near the beach in a place called Fisherman’s Cottage with her roommate Bronte Laidler. Kieran remembers how beautiful Olivia was in high school but is surprised to hear she still works at a local restaurant. Ash tries to call Olivia but cannot reach her, so he tells them to meet at Surf and Turf later during Olivia’s shift. They look up to see Bronte, also a waitress at the restaurant, holding her white skirt above the water and walking along the beach taking photos. Audrey’s hat blows into the surf. Ash calls to Bronte to go in after it, but she cannot catch it before it sinks. Audrey grasps her mother’s silver chain unconcerned about the lost hat.

Kieran’s mother babysits Audrey while he and Mia meet Ash at Surf and Turf. The Surf and Turf is crowded with locals, and Kieran feels self-conscious. The narrator says, “No one paid Kieran any real attention as they entered. He hadn’t expected them to twelve years was a long time in anyone’s book” (13). Ash is already there, and their friend Sean will join them later. Olivia takes their order and Kieran notices she is still as beautiful as she was in high school. Mia shows Olivia photos of Audrey, and they tell her about seeing Bronte earlier at the beach. Kieran watches as Bronte interacts with a customer, and Olivia explains she is here for the summer. Bronte brings a box to their table full of lost and found items and tells them to select a hat from the box to replace Audrey’s. Bronte is an art student in Canberra, and she hopes the coastal setting will give her inspiration to complete her project.

As Kieran listens, he feels someone watching him and notices Liam Gilroy glaring at him. Liam, a large well-built 19-year-old, works in the kitchen. Kieran excuses himself to the restroom and notices his tired reflection in the mirror. He thinks about what Mia said earlier about his friendships. They go long periods without seeing each other and do not talk much if at all during the breaks. He thinks, “when the three of them did see each other they were able to pick up where they’d left off […] if they had been going to fall apart, it would have happened twelve years ago” (20). As he is leaving the restroom, he overhears Liam talking to Bronte about him. Bronte insists Kieran is a good guy, but Liam says, when a person kills someone, they deserve what they get.

Sean Gilroy, Kieran’s childhood friend, arrives, and the group spends time catching up as he chides Ash for forcing Mia and Kieran to come out against their will. Kieran thinks Sean has not changed much but that none of them are the same as before. Ash and Sean are roommates living in a shabby beach house near the marina. Sean runs a charter boat business that takes groups on deep-water dives. Ash orders more drinks as Kieran anxiously glances towards the kitchen and towards Bronte trying to determine if she looks at him differently after what Liam told her.

Kieran thinks about earlier that day. After they met Ash on the beach, he and Mia hiked around the cliffs to a whaling lookout where they saw Sean’s boat the Nautilus Blue anchored in the water. Sean was exploring the wreckage of the SS Mary Minerva. The site is marked by a statue on the rocks memorializing the fifty-four passengers who died in the wreck.

Back in the present, Sean explains that business is going well, and he is preparing to guide a group from Norway. Due to low visibility and the difficulty of the dive, there is a short window in which they can explore the Mary Minerva. As he was conducting safety checks for the dive, Sean noticed he was missing his underwater flashlight. When Ash says he lent it to Olivia and Bronte, Sean is annoyed. Olivia explains it was for Bronte because she thought she heard something on the beach one night. Ash investigated and found nothing. Although Olivia is still bothered by it, they agree it was probably the wind. When Bronte returns to the table, Olivia asks her about the flashlight, and she reacts strangely, awkwardly eying Kieran. A pan crashes in the kitchen. Kieran looks back to see Liam and remembers the conversation he overheard after leaving the bathroom. Liam told Bronte Kieran killed his father, Sean’s brother, 12 years ago during a historic storm. Bronte was taken aback and wonders why everyone is still friends with him. Liam said they have forgiven him, and they feel sorry for him because he also killed his own brother.

The friends stay until closing when a surly Liam begins cleaning the restaurant. Liam intentionally spills water from the mop bucket onto Kieran’s shoes. Sean, having watched the exchange, whispers something to Liam and leaves him with a pat on the back. Mia offers Oliva a ride home, but she plans to stay with her mother so they can attend yoga together the next morning. Mia thanks Bronte for the sun hat, and she and Kieran walk Sean home. Sean apologizes for Liam’s behavior saying someone should have warned him Kieran was coming. Liam is working part-time at Surf and Turf and helping Sean on the boat. Sean apologizes for Liam’s behavior again before saying goodnight. Kieran insists he is not bothered. Alone for the first time in three months, Kieran and Mia decide to walk to the beach. They are both exhausted but enjoy the calming effect of the ocean sounds. Kieran tells her he overheard Liam talking about him in the kitchen.

Kieran flashes back to the night he met Mia in a bar in Sydney. Exhausted from his studies and severely depressed from the trauma he endured, Kieran was at the bar with some friends when he heard his name. Mia Sum introduced herself reminding him she used to live in Evelyn Bay. Mia was half-Singaporean, a nerdy pianist, and four years younger than Kieran. Mia moved away from Evelyn Bay after the storm. Kieran and Mia left the bar together that night and reconnected as they walked through the city. Kieran told her he swims every Saturday morning, and Mia looked at him sadly: “The flirtatious tone dissolved in an instant and a look of sad surprise flashed across her face” (37).

Back in the present, the couple sits on the beach together in silence. He enjoys the quiet rhythm of their life together. Despite Kieran’s home being a short walk away on the beach, they decide to take the road and discuss Olivia and Ash as a couple. Just as Mia is about to say something, a car rumbles out of the darkness around the corner just barely missing them. They are both rattled, and Kieran is glad Audrey was not with them. They return home to find Audrey sleeping peacefully and both collapse into bed exhausted.

Kieran awakens to find Mia and Audrey have gone for a walk. Dressing to go for his morning swim, a daily ritual since his brother Finn’s death, he notices a trail of sand on the floor. While he sweeps the sand, he has a flashback to being in the hospital the night of Finn’s death. The doctor told him his physical wounds would heal, but that he would need to watch his mental health closely. She warned him, “People can react badly when they don’t know how to react to something. That’s true for everyone, but men, in particular, can very quickly find themselves in places they don’t want to be” (42). The doctor explained that he needed to find a way to cope with the grief and anger. When the family got home, Kieran went directly to swim in the ocean, and he has kept the ritual ever since.

Back in the present Kieran joins his parents at the breakfast table where his mother is feeding his father cereal. Brian refuses to eat, and Kieran notices a box nearby packed with his mother’s clothes. He also realizes his mother is sleeping apart from his father. Kieran is angry with his mother for not telling him the extent of his father’s decline and tries to convince her to move to Sydney where he and Mia can help her care for him. She responds that it is too late to make the change and she does not think moving away would be good for Brian. She tries to change the subject. Frustrated and angry with his mother’s lack of emotion, Kieran leaves for his swim. When he gets to the beach, a crowd has gathered near the water, and Kieran fears something has happened to Mia and Audrey.

The crowd is gathered around a body washed up on the shore. Kieran is relieved nothing is wrong with Audrey and Mia but horrified when he sees the body is Bronte still dressed in her waitress uniform. According to one of the neighbors, Olivia found the body. A young police officer stands guard over the crime scene but appears to be inexperienced and uncertain of what to do next. Kieran hears a voice e calling out for onlookers to go around the police tape, and he recognizes the man as Chris Renn, the town sergeant. Renn was just a constable 12 years ago, but Kieran watches now as he moves with authority to secure the scene. Kieran looks towards Bronte’s bedroom window and thinks back to what Olivia said about hearing a noise on the beach. He is relieved when he gets a text from Mia saying she and Audrey are safe at the Surf and Turf. He tells her to stay put and that something bad has happened at the beach. Taking one last glance at the body covered in seaweed, Kieran leaves the beach. As he walks away, he sees a distressed Renn talking on the phone and looking out Bronte’s window.

Mia is waiting for Kieran at the Surf and Turf where a small crowd is gathering. Audrey is wearing the hat Bronte gave her. Lyn, a long-time waitress at the Surf and Turf, asks Kieran what he saw at the beach, and Kieran confirms the body is Bronte. Lyn says Bronte was nice and good with the difficult customers. She is certain Bronte’s death was an accident due to poor lighting near the beach, but when Kieran tells her Bronte was still in her work clothes, Lyn is shocked and silent. Julian Wallis, the manager of the Surf and Turf, arrives and announces he is closing for the day. Lyn reminds them Julian owns Fisherman’s Cottage explaining he gives Olivia and Bronte a discount on the rent. Lyn starts to say something about Sergeant Renn and is interrupted by George, the customer from the previous night whom Bronte served. He is angry the Surf and Turf is closed, but when Lyn tells him something has happened to Bronte, he seems concerned. Ash arrives upset that he cannot get Olivia on the phone. Ash confirms that Olivia stayed with her mother the previous night, and Mia says she cannot imagine how awful it would be to find your friend like that comparing it to what happened to Gabby on the same beach. Kieran says it is very different and thinks to himself that at least Bronte’s body was recovered. Sean texts Ash telling him someone posted on the Evelyn Bay Online Community Hub that Liam was seen with Bronte the previous night.

Lyn remains silent at the news, and Kieran replays the previous night’s events in his head including Liam’s haunting words to Bronte about his brother’s death and how Kieran deserves what he gets. The narrator says, “Somewhere inside Kieran, deep beneath soft hoary layers of guilt, a mean worm pulsated and rolled over” (62). Once the town gossip starts, they quickly get the full story from the previous night. When the Surf and Turf closed at eleven o’clock, Julian sent the staff home. CCTV cameras captured Liam on the street at 11:13, and Bronte appears in the frame a few minutes later. After a short conversation, they both got into Liam’s white car and drove away. Around 11:30, a neighbor reported seeing an unfamiliar car parked outside Fisherman’s Cottage and, 20 minutes later, she thought she heard voices from the beach but did not investigate it further.

Olivia finally calls Ash, and he tells her to meet Sean at the marina. Kieran agrees to go with him, and Mia takes Audrey home. Lyn, whom Kieran notices is not worried about the mention of Liam, offers to walk Mia home. On the way to the marina, Ash tells Kieran the city is shutting down the police department due to budget cuts, and Sergeant Renn is leaving town next month when the station closes. As they arrive at the marina, Kieran thinks back to the events after the storm. Liam was seven years old when his father died, and afterward Julian and Liam’s mother Sarah began dating and eventually married three years earlier. Julian had become a good influence on Liam as his stepfather.

Back in the present, Sean is waiting with a distraught Olivia. Sean tells them Liam is at the police station with his mother. Olivia explains through tears that she had returned to the house to collect her yoga mat and noticed Bronte’s bedroom door was open. She went out the unlocked back door where she found her body near the water. Renn told Olivia they think Bronte’s body had been on the beach for five or six hours, but otherwise, he has not given any more insight into what they think happened. Olivia says the officers questioned her about Bronte’s acquaintances, particularly a Portuguese man named Marco she briefly dated. Olivia feels guilty they did not report the strange noises on the beach, and Kieran recounts what happened with the speeding car after he and Mia walked on the beach. Ash insists Kieran tell Sergeant Renn about the car. Sean insists Liam did not have anything to do with Bronte’s death. He implores Kieran to tell Sergeant Renn he overheard Bronte and Liam speaking pleasantly not angrily. Kieran flashes back again to the events after the storm. He remembers how Sean forgave him for his brother’s death agreeing that it was an accident. Remembering what a good friend Sean has been to him despite all that happened, Kieran agrees to his friend’s request.