The Swimmers

Her wisdom is stunningly beautiful and implicates each of us — The Irish Times. Here’s the new Julie Otsuka novel so we can start to live again — Colson whitehead, author Harlem Shuffle. Heartbreaking and astonishingly good — Rebecca Makkai author of The Great Believers. I am in awe of how this graceful, beautiful novel can hold so many grief, loss, and love in its pages. It is a literary treasure. Nicci Gerard, author Soham: A Story Of Our Times”If it weren’t tragedy, it would be comedy. And it nimbly walks the very narrow line between.” — The Tablet “One of The Swimmers’ greatest strengths is its honest portrayal of the enormous drama that comes with losing your mind before it has died. Its respect for the general confusion and living is perhaps more remarkable’- Financial Times. This brilliant, funny account of this terrible illness was a first for me. Collagerie “The Swimmers” is a wonderful companion. Although it doesn’t answer all the questions, the novel’s quiet insistence rings true: it’s our ordinary proclivities which make us who and what we are. New York TimesAn extraordinary novel about mothers, daughters, by a spellbinding talent — Daily MailStylistically ambitious, deeply moving — Kirkus ReviewsA heartbreaking story — Emma Straub author of The VacationersA tale of memory loss, its fallout for families, and the power of pool friendship. It is tender and glittering. Sainsbury’s MagazineI loved this novel as a regular, sedate swimmer. It was a quiet, thoughtful story about the small, steady joys in life and how they can be disrupted so quickly and irrevocably. Red MagazineA story about mothers, daughters, love, and loss. It will make you reevaluate what is truly important in your life. Kintsugi MagazineHaunting and ironic in its resonance, this slim volume is a must read…Don’t miss this beautiful, heartfelt and wise, wry, and wistful exploration into loss. Otsuka’s tale of memory and grief is a quiet, yet witty, story. — SpectatorIn midst a litany of totalising loss, there are glimpses of a unique and complicated life. This is an extraordinaryly realized and moving article — Daily Mail. The slender volume of Woman’s Weekly is haunting, poetic, and poignant. What makes a good, happy life? What makes a good death? The answers to these questions shimmer elusively just below the surface of The Swimmers — StylistOtsuka’s slender, stylistically ambitious third novel is a marvel, capturing the hypnotic rhythm of lane-swimming and the devastating decline of memory and connection as dementia takes hold…Heartbreakingly powerful — Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction
Vogue’s Best Book of 2022. A Bookseller Editor’s Pick Red Magazine’s “10 Best New Books This Month” ‘Here’s the new Julie Otsuka book, so we can start to live again.’ Colson Whitehead, author Harlem Shuffle. ‘Her wisdom has been staggeringly beautiful, and implicates each of us.’ Rebecca Makkai author of The Great Believers. ‘This beautifully written, heartfelt and poignant, wry, and wisterful, and tender, and emotional, and an exploration of loss. Woman & Home ‘I am in awe at how this graceful, beautiful novel can hold so many griefs and losses and love in its pages. It is a literary treasure. Nicci Gerard is the author of Soham, A Story Of Our Times. Nicci Gerard is also the author of The Buddha In the Attic. While there are many things going on up above, such as smog alerts and epic droughts, paper jams or teachers’ strikes, teacher strikes, insurrections and revolutions, down below, the pool is always a pleasant eighty-one degrees. For Alice, the swimming pool is the center of their lives. It is a place of surprising kinship, freedom and ritual. Her husband and daughter struggle to figure out how to best care for Alice. Alice holds on to the memories of her past, but it is no longer her Home. Her daughter must navigate their new fractured relationship. The Swimmers is a novel about mothers, daughters, grief, memory, love, and unending loss. It’s spellbinding, magical, incantatory, and unforgettable. This is the greatest work by a modern master. “An unforgettable novel about mothers, daughters, by a spellbinding talent” Daily Mail “Stylistically ambitious but deeply moving” Kirkus Reviews Emma Straub (author of The Vacationers)