The Flood is the first novel by crime writer Ian Rankin.

The Flood
First edition
AuthorIan Rankin
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPolygon
Publication date
1986
Publication placeScotland
Media typePrint (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages188 pp
ISBN0-948275-09-X

Plot summary

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Mary Miller has always been an outcast. As a child, she fell into the hot burn - a torrent of warm chemical run-off from the local coal mine - and her hair turned white. Initially she was treated with sympathy, but all that changed a few days later, when the young man who pushed her in died in an accident.

Now many years later, Mary is a single mother caught up in a faltering affair. Her son, Sandy, has fallen in love with a strange homeless girl - and both mother and son are forced to come to terms with a dark secret from Mary's past.