High street book retailer Waterstones have announced the winner of their inaugural Welsh Book of the Year award. And it goes to… Caryl Lewis for her novel Drift.

The new award targets books by Welsh authors, or those with a strong Welsh connection. And Steven Gane, manager of Waterstones Swansea, is looking forward to presenting the new promotion to readers.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to launch the Waterstones Welsh Book of the Year,” says Steven. “Our booksellers consistently champion exciting new writing by Welsh authors and books with a strong Welsh setting, and the Book of the Year award will act as an extension of this bookselling expertise. Drift is a truly stunning novel; beautiful, captivating, and haunting. We can’t wait to put this incredible book into our customers’ hands.”

Originally from Dihewyd near Aberaeron, Caryl Lewis graduated from Durham University before returning to Aberystwyth University where she attained a higher degree in writing. She is a multi-award-winning Welsh novelist, children's writer, playwright and screenwriter (including BBC/S4C thrillers Hinterland and Hidden), but Drift is her debut novel in the English language.

“I’m utterly delighted,” says Caryl of the award. “It’s an incredible honour. Drift represents a personal milestone in my career, and I’ve been genuinely touched by the response of readers. I'm sincerely grateful to everyone involved in its publication and wish to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the booksellers whose passion, knowledge and expertise make the reading world go round.”

As for the book itself... Nefyn has always been an enigma, even to her brother Joseph with whom she lives in a small cottage above a blustery cove. Hamza, meanhile, is a Syrian mapmaker, incarcerated in a military base a few miles up the coast. A violent storm brings these two lost souls together, but other forces soon try to tear them apart.

Moving between the wild Welsh coast and war-torn Syria, Drift is a love story with a difference, a hypnotic tale of lost identity, the quest for home and the wondrous resilience of the human spirit.

• Drift by Caryl Lewis, is currently available in hardback priced £14.99 from www.waterstones.com