In 1930s Hamilton, the boathouse community of Cootes Paradise is under siege: the squatters' shacks that line the shores of Dundas Marsh stand in the way of ambitious plans to make the city beautiful. Egypt Fisher and her mother are struggling to keep their lives together in the absence of her father, a con man neither of them has seen for six years. Into this mix walks a handsome drifter and the family falls under his spell, until Egypt's father unexpectedly returns. Unhinged by jealousy and a harrowing brush with the local mafia, he reveals a family secret that sets Egypt's world off-kilter and poisons her relationship with her mother. When Egypt tries to turn the situation to her own advantage, her lies set in motion a series of events with devastating consequences.

A native of Yorkshire, England, Rachael Preston earned a Master's degree in English Literature from Queen's University. She also studied at Emily Carr College in Vancouver. She has worked as an ESL professor at Asia University in Tokyo and co-wrote a series of video scripts produced for classroom use. She has also taught English in Vancouver; London, England; and the Czech Republic, and has worked as an advertising copywriter and editor. She currently teaches creative writing both in class and online for Mohawk and Sheridan colleges. In 2005, Rachael Preston assumed the position of Chair of gritLIT, Hamilton's writers' festival, and has since expanded the festival's mandate to include children's writers, genre authors, and graphic novelists. She is also a judge for the Power of the Pen, the Hamilton Public Library Creative Writing Competition. In 2001, she won the Arts Hamilton Literary Award and was nominated for the Journey Prize. Rachael Preston is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel Tent of Blue (Goose Lane Editions, 2002).

Rachael Preston's profile page

"Fans of Hamilton history will love the setting: inside the shacks that cling to the shores of Cootes Paradise, behind the stalls at the Hamilton Market and down gritty lane-ways off Barton Street [?] But it's the characters that bring this landscape to life; characters whose motivations and needs are as multi-layered and murky as the swamp that gives the book its name." - HPL The Voice of Older Adults Blog