‘Where do we go from here?’ the woman in red asked again. ‘I just want a little bit of sunshine.’

Didn’t they all, thought Mira, straining her eyes in the dark, damp cave. The walls seemed to be closing in on the four of them. Wearily, the straggly group edged their way forward.

‘The swim to the other side will be easy,’ Neil had promised and dared them in equal measure hours ago. As if! One friend, or rather acquaintance, had been swept away. Hopefully to safety, prayed Mira, but even that offered little consolation to them.

‘I said, where do we …’

‘For God’s sake, Julia, can’t you stop moaning? For once, a single act of kindness and consideration wouldn’t go amiss,’ retorted Neil, guilt and exhaustion clawing at his spirit.

After the calamitous swim, which took them far from their intended beach nook, they’d struggled onto some rocks and found a cavernous opening in the mountainside. Would this be their salvation? They continued to scramble over stones and spiky rocks, accruing scrapes and cuts.

‘There’s something about Mira,’ mumbled Petra, the Norwegian exchange student whom they’d all met at the fresher’s week. Petra gave voice to all their musings. Mira who barely said a word, and rarely showed any emotion, hung with them at every opportunity. What was it with her? No one believed Mira would come with them on the trip to the island off the Cornish coast just for the summer. Perhaps she had been convinced by the woman with all the answers aka Julia. 

‘We can find the missing pieces of our lives,’ Julia had declared, selling the well-being aspect of the holiday heavily. The only pieces were the fragmented friendships, Mira thought. The island home quickly became a toxic and smouldering place with arguments and verbal abuse scattered far and wide. Mira retreated further inside herself, if that was possible. Petra had taken on the role of the housemaid; she seemed chained to the kitchen as she skivvied away. Julia had shown her true colours, her privileged upbringing ensuring she never lifted a finger to help.

Mira sought refuge in the butterfly garden, where the others quickly discovered her. Her quiet demeanour meant she soon became, unwillingly, the secret collector. Stoner Julia revealed that she hadn’t been clean a single day of term. Petra, an orphan, thought of herself as nobody’s child while Neil battled his embarrassing emotions of a boy between teenager and adulthood. No doubt they all would soon think more about their lost colleague and at last truly talk about the real stages of grief.

Hours passed in agonised silence as they trekked onwards through the caverns until the sudden wild call from Mira of all people.

‘Look,’ her arms waving madly, pointing ahead. ‘Light!’

At the midnight hour, the four stopped to rest in the magical beam of moonlight from a gap above them.

‘See, over there. See what the light touches,’ exclaimed Mira. 

Exhausted, they all took in the heavenly sight of a purple hibiscus, lit up to all its glory and behind it, a crevice, just wide enough for a person, which led onto a beach. Freedom.

The End

@Annika Perry

The Cave was inspired by book titles of some of the books I read last year as part of the Goodreads Reading Challenge 2025.

I was happy to lose myself in 76 books and in the story above 22 titles, as shown in italics, are featured. Overall, I read 25,360 pages and the longest book was 528 pages long and the shortest 114.

Enjoy perusing the images of the book titles I’ve read and below are a list of my five-star rated books as well as my non-fiction read books.

My 50 Read Fiction Books for 2025 – 4 & -3-Stars

My 5-Star Read Books for 2025

‘To read it to voyage through time.’ Carl Sagan

My 5-Star Read Books for 2025

• ‘The Women’ by Kristin Hannah
• ‘Wild’ by Kristin Hannah
• ‘The Bookbinder’ by Pip Williams
• ‘Weyward’ by Emilia Hart 
• ‘The Woman in Red’ by Diana Giovianzzo
• ‘A Borrowed Path’ by Imogen Clark
• ‘Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver’ by D. Wallace Peach
• ‘The Wind Knows My Name’ by Isabel Allende
• ‘The Forgotten Book Club’ by Kate Storey
• ‘The Phoenix Ballroom’ by Ruth Hogan
• ‘The Light a Candle Society’ by Ruth Hogan
• ‘By Any Other Name’ by Jodi Picoult
• ‘The Book of Fire’ by Christy Lefteri
• ‘There’s Something About Mira’ by Sonali Dev
• ‘The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris’ by Evie Woods
• ‘What the Light Touches’ by Xavier Bosch
• ‘The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse – The Animated Story’ by Charlie Mackesy
• ‘About the Real Stages of Grief: A Journey Through Loss’ by D. G. Kaye

‘When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature.’ Maya Angelou

My 9 Read Non-Fiction Books 2025

• ‘The Joy of Wintering’ by  Erin Nimi Longhurst
• ‘Nobody’s Child’ by Kate Adie
• ‘Grief is the Thing with Feathers’ by Max Porter
• ‘Friendaholic’:Confessions of a Friendship Addict’ by Elizabeth Day
• ‘Wise Up: Power, Wisdom and the Older Woman’ by Barbara Scully
• ‘Consolations: The Solace Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words’ by David Whyte
• ‘The Boy Between: A Mother and Son’s Journey From a World Gone Grey’ by Josiah Hartley, Amanda Prowse
• ‘Walden or, Life in the Woods’ by Henry David Thoreau
• ‘About the Real Stages of Grief: A Journey Through Loss’ by D. G. Kaye

‘What a miracle it is that out of theses flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world. Worlds that sing to you, comfort you and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean, they show us how to live and die.’ Anne Lamott

A full list of my read books in 2025 is available by clicking here.

Happy Reading in 2026!

Finally, as promised, an update on my book nook craft kit build. It is coming on apace and below is just one of the many completed interior items. As we have a grandfather clock in our house, inherited from my husband’s parents, this smaller version feels special to me too. 

Pictures: Cave image courtesy of Yogeshhire  at pixaby.com The living room bathed in sunlight with bookshelves is an ai generated image courtesy of FREEP!K.  Remaining images copyright Annika Perry.