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Stranded
A haunting short story from the bestselling author of the Vera and Shetland novels, capturing a tale of two young lovers as beautiful and unpredictable as the British coastline that provides its backdrop.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
16 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 10, 2024
11 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Ann Cleeves
132 books8,906 followersAnn is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands...
Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony
Ann's short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award - once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the Dagger in the Library award.
In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA's Gold Dagger award, and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world's largest award for crime fiction.
Ann's success was announced at the 2006 Dagger Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London's Aldwych, on Thursday 29 June 2006. She said: "I have never won anything before in my life, so it was a complete shock - but lovely of course.. The evening was relatively relaxing because I'd lost my voice and knew that even if the unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So I wouldn't have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!"
The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).
Ann's books have been translated into sixteen languages. She's a bestseller in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200
Ann grew up in the country, first in Herefordshire, then in North Devon. Her father was a village school teacher. After dropping out of university she took a number of temporary jobs - child care officer, women's refuge leader, bird observatory cook, auxiliary coastguard - before going back to college and training to be a probation officer.
While she was cooking in the Bird Observatory on Fair Isle, she met her husband Tim, a visiting ornithologist. She was attracted less by the ornithology than the bottle of malt whisky she saw in his rucksack when she showed him his room. Soon after they married, Tim was appointed as warden of Hilbre, a tiny tidal island nature reserve in the Dee Estuary. They were the only residents, there was no mains electricity or water and access to the mainland was at low tide across the shore. If a person's not heavily into birds - and Ann isn't - there's not much to do on Hilbre and that was when she started writing. Her first series of crime novels features the elderly naturalist, George Palmer-Jones. A couple of these books are seriously dreadful.
In 1987 Tim, Ann and their two daughters moved to Northumberland and the north east provides the inspiration for many of her subsequent titles. The girls have both taken up with Geordie lads. In the autumn of 2006, Ann and Tim finally achieved their ambition of moving back to the North East.
For the National Year of Reading, Ann was made reader-in-residence for three library authorities. It came as a revelation that it was possible to get paid for talking to readers about books! She went on to set up reading groups in prisons as part of the Inside Books project, became Cheltenham Literature Festival's first reader-in-residence and still enjoys working with libraries.
Ann Cleeves on stage at the Duncan Lawrie Dagger awards ceremony
Ann's short film for Border TV, Catching Birds, won a Royal Television Society Award. She has twice been short listed for a CWA Dagger Award - once for her short story The Plater, and the following year for the Dagger in the Library award.
In 2006 Ann Cleeves was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award of the Crime Writers' Association for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland Quartet. The Duncan Lawrie Dagger replaces the CWA's Gold Dagger award, and the winner receives £20,000, making it the world's largest award for crime fiction.
Ann's success was announced at the 2006 Dagger Awards ceremony at the Waldorf Hilton, in London's Aldwych, on Thursday 29 June 2006. She said: "I have never won anything before in my life, so it was a complete shock - but lovely of course.. The evening was relatively relaxing because I'd lost my voice and knew that even if the unexpected happened there was physically no way I could utter a word. So I wouldn't have to give a speech. My editor was deputed to do it!"
The judging panel consisted of Geoff Bradley (non-voting Chair), Lyn Brown MP (a committee member on the London Libraries service), Frances Gray (an academic who writes about and teaches courses on modern crime fiction), Heather O'Donoghue (academic, linguist, crime fiction reviewer for The Times Literary Supplement, and keen reader of all crime fiction) and Barry Forshaw (reviewer and editor of Crime Time magazine).
Ann's books have been translated into sixteen languages. She's a bestseller in Scandinavia and Germany. Her novels sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. Raven Black was shortlisted for the Martin Beck award for best translated crime novel in Sweden in 200
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 20, 2025
As far as short stories go, this one was pretty good. In just a few pages the author managed to build a plot, scene and characters which is impressive. Predictable? Yes. I didn’t feel much emotion reading it and I wasn’t invested but I had a good time while reading it. I kind of was left wondering what was the point of the book but maybe the point is there is no point, just enjoy a quick read. I find it hard rating short stories so go from my review not the rating.
March 28, 2025
Thoughts:
It’s impressive that Ann is able to tell a tale that captures the loss and longing of teenage years in so few pages and does so well. I didn’t see the spiritual twist at the end coming but it also feels well done and fits in with the story and themes of being between two worlds, like in the quote I chose.
Favourite Quote:
So here I am, Anthony Murphy, caught between two worlds. (...) Perhaps that's why I like Hilbre so much, because it's caught between two worlds too. Halfway between England and Wales and stranded like a sandstone whale between the land and the sea. I’m fifteen years old and I don't feel like a lad or a man.
It’s impressive that Ann is able to tell a tale that captures the loss and longing of teenage years in so few pages and does so well. I didn’t see the spiritual twist at the end coming but it also feels well done and fits in with the story and themes of being between two worlds, like in the quote I chose.
Favourite Quote:
So here I am, Anthony Murphy, caught between two worlds. (...) Perhaps that's why I like Hilbre so much, because it's caught between two worlds too. Halfway between England and Wales and stranded like a sandstone whale between the land and the sea. I’m fifteen years old and I don't feel like a lad or a man.
May 10, 2025
It’s a great short story and definitely packs that punch you need and has the right twists, however, the story is a little predictable/cliche toward the end.
It’s a great setting and the characters and who they are are clear to you from the get go, which is so hard to do in such few pages.
I also really enjoyed the writing style and the capture of what it means to be working class in an upper class environment.
„I can hear the noise from the Canoe Club, even from where I'm sitting and I'm drawn to it, half-fascinated and half-disgusted.“
It’s a great setting and the characters and who they are are clear to you from the get go, which is so hard to do in such few pages.
I also really enjoyed the writing style and the capture of what it means to be working class in an upper class environment.
„I can hear the noise from the Canoe Club, even from where I'm sitting and I'm drawn to it, half-fascinated and half-disgusted.“
December 29, 2024
A neat short story capturing the longing, trauma and anxiety of youth. Cleeves deftly portrays the coping mechanism of youth whose parents drive them to upward mobility. Oddly, this is part of a run of books about spirits, a genre I don’t usually read but seem to have chosen me!
December 27, 2024
Using this Book as the Publisher Short Story offered in December 2024 isn't on Goodreads in it's own right ..
Games in Winter is a psychological thriller set in Alaska ..
Games in Winter is a psychological thriller set in Alaska ..
March 30, 2025
Great short read
April 3, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed this short story.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews