Cat Munro, aged 39, quits her corporate job in Arizona and – in a bid to conquer her fear of flying – starts flying lessons in a small plane over the desert instead. Her mother, Laura, moves to the Scottish village where she lived when first married to Cat’s violent father and attempts to come to terms with the past. From the excoriating heat of the Arizona desert to the misty flow of a north-west Highland sea-loch, Sharon Blackie’s first novel presents us with the transformative power of landscape, and of storytelling, as Cat learns to finally let herself go and Laura learns how to forgive herself. An honest and moving exploration of the complexities of mother-daughter relationships, ‘The Long Delirious Burning Blue’ is above all a story of courage, endurance and redemption.