The Floating Days

When Catherine’s world-travelling son Ryan dies suddenly overseas, she is left reeling. For so long, it was just Ryan and her; now her foundation is ruptured. She’s never quite found the stability and comfort she needs from her husband, Jack, and now he’s all she has.

Ryan’s girlfriend, Kate, stays overseas, away from Catherine and Jack and all the memories of her and Ryan’s life on Prince Edward Island. She doesn’t want to move forward; what if she leaves Ryan behind? But both Kate and Catherine feel an echo of the truth: Ryan is still around, lighter than air and floating on the wind, a sentient soul trying to make sense of an unexpected transition to what feels like the ultimate freedom. Listening in on his own funeral, hopping around the planet to join in the pipe bands of his dreams… he has found the bright side of his floating days.

With his invisible but palpable presence, can he help his mother, his stepfather, and his love find a new path forward…together?

A light in the darkness, The Floating Days explores one family’s attempt to make sense of tragedy as they discover that perhaps true freedom is the beautiful, brief time we share on earth with the people we love.

*PEI Book Awards, Fiction Category – Shortlisted, 2026