Take a Breath

Take a Breath by Sk Paisley

A young woman vanishes into the cold Glaswegian night. Ten years later, one man is forced on a journey into his buried past to reveal the truth behind her mysterious disappearance.

Take a Breath is set in gangster-ridden Glasgow. With razor-sharp pace and authentic urban grit, it charts the relationship of Paul and Lena, mining the darker side of love, as time and again they engage in a grim, obsessive dance. From their first tumultuous meeting, following their reconnections over several years, each encounter is more intense than the last. However, Lena is not the only one entangled with Paul. He has fallen in with notorious crimelord Manny Munroe, a name synonymous with drugs, prostitution and a ruthless lust for violence.

As the stakes rise ever higher, Take a Breath offers a chilling look at the organized crime realm of Glasgow, where everyone is connected and no one leaves unscathed. With searing narrative, complex characters, and the seamy backdrop of Glasgow's mean streets, this arresting work of fiction will leave you hanging on every tautly written page.

S. K. Paisley was born in Glasgow. She studied Law and English literature at University of Glasgow before working briefly as a secondary school teacher.

Her first draft of Take a Breath was started while living and working in London. She continued working on the novel while travelling around South America and finally completed it in Hamburg.

The author currently lives in Glasgow with her husband Jamie.

S. K. Paisley was shortlisted for the Scottish Book Trust's 2015 New Writers Award.

Take a Breath is her first novel.