Description

Longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2021

The outcast in a family of former competitive swimmers must prepare for the end of her mother’s life in this sharp, sparkling debut from a bold New Zealand talent.

When an affair ends badly and takes her career down with it, 26-year-old Erin leaves Auckland to spend the holiday weekend with her aunt, uncle, and terminally ill mother at their suburban family home. On arrival she learns that her mother has decided to take matters into her own hands and end her life – the following Tuesday.

Tasked with fulfilling her mother’s final wishes, Erin can only do her imperfect best to navigate difficult feelings, an eccentric neighbourhood, and her complicated family of former competitive swimmers. She must summon the strength she would normally find in the water as she prepares for the loss of the fiery, independent woman who raised her alone, and one last swim together in the cold New Zealand Sea.

Publisher Review

Longlisted for the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards 2021 'Darkly funny, desperately sad, brilliantly written. I absolutely loved it' Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground A beautiful, heart-rending and totally absorbing narrative, a compulsive page turner from start to end... it's a little masterpiece' Fiona Kidman, author of This Mortal Boy 'By turns touching, resonate, fiercely candid, and beautifully written' Jill Ciment, author of The Body in Question 'The Swimmers has the kind of intelligent and beautiful quiet that explodes a brightness deep within the reader... I can't remember the last time I read a more generous book about care, courage, and figuring it out' Pip Adam, author of The New Animals 'An intense, moving, and darkly comic story about unrepentant, difficult women' New Zealand Herald 'Strangely compelling... intensely moving' Academy of New Zealand Literature 'A powerfully moving story confronting the very timely issue of euthanasia' Together Journal 'Lane confronts issues surrounding euthanasia with enormous sensitivity but with lashes of humour and humanity' NZ Booklovers 'A remarkable book' ANZ Lit Lovers