Spun Glass

On a beach in Greece –

accessible only by sea

or down a steep path –

the waves caress the land,

crash against the rocks,

keep watch at night and

doze in the noonday sun.

Visitors include Aphrodite, whose house is above the shore, and her family from Athens. An English couple, who own the only other house visible from the beach, their children and these youngsters' friends. An Albanian migrant seeking work. A castaway from ancient Athens trying to return home. And the Fates.

They seek safe passage or new paths to follow amidst a chorus of overlapping voices – as the past hums in the background and tomorrow spreads its wings. The beach is a beautiful, wild place where everyone is more than they appear, and a single year can shape the course of a life.

Bridget Westaway lives a few miles from the sea in Sussex and, as a child, spent long summers on the North Devon coast. She has four children. Her husband, when they first met, was working as a merchant seaman – and since the children were small, the whole family has been visiting both mainline Greece and some of the many islands each year. Drawn by the sand and rocks, the sea, the food, the people and a sense of home.