Stone Cold Dead — Roger Ormerod

There should have been nothing but pleasure involved in an eighteenth birthday party combined with a formal engagement to be married. But Richard Patton and his wife, Amelia, find themselves in an unusual environment, in which the word ‘flight' takes on a fresh meaning, and a ‘pound' has nothing to do with money or weight. Yet it is weight that defeats Richard when it comes to attempting to rescue what turns out to be a distinct embarrassment. Weight and cold. The water is taking on a surface layer of ice, and it is difficult to accept that people might live in this environment on their houseboats. Or even die on them. The young woman whom Richard discovers is not dead, though very close to being so, and the discovery leads him on to ventures that threaten the basic moral values of their new friends at Flight House, and even restructures their lives. When the truth is finally revealed, it still leaves two explanations to be made, and the only question remaining is who shall make which.