Swimming Home: A Novel

Product Description

From the author of the international bestseller In Falling Snow. In 1925, a young woman swimmer will defy the odds to swim the English Channel—a chance to make history. 
London 1925: Fifteen-year-old Catherine Quick longs to feel once more the warm waters of her home, to strike out into the ocean off the Torres Strait Islands in Australia and swim, as she’s done since she was a child. But now, orphaned and living with her aunt Louisa in London, Catherine feels that everything she values has been stripped away from her.
 
Louisa, a London surgeon who fought boldly for equality for women, holds strict views on the behavior of her young niece. She wants Catherine to pursue an education, just as she herself did.  Catherine is rebellious, and Louisa finds it difficult to block painful memories from her past. It takes the enigmatic American banker Manfred Lear Black to convince Louisa to bring Catherine to New York where Catherine can train to become the first woman to swim the English Channel. And finally, Louisa begins to listen to what her own heart tells her.

Review

Praise for In Falling Snow
 
“In her sweeping American debut, Mary-Rose MacColl creates a beautifully by the choice to follow her brother across continents into France. An epic tale of love, heartache, and a sisterhood created by nursing in a time of war, 
In Falling Snow is one of those novels you will want to read again. If you liked 
The Aviator’s Wife, you will love this book!”—Michelle Moran, bestselling author of 
Cleopatra’s Daughter
 
“This is a story of love, ultimately, and a woman whose life has sought to atone for a mistake she hardly knew she made… At once perceptive and sympathetic, 
In Falling Snow beguiles, a tale of selflessness and youthful indiscretion as singular and seductive as one could hope for.”—Robin Oliveira, 
New York Times bestselling author of 
My Name Is Mary Sutter

“In Falling Snow is expertly researched and written with a keen eye to the complexities of wartime and the mighty role of women therein. From past to present, Australia to France, MacColl guides readers through unknown lands abroad and territories of the heart. For readers, like me, who love to see history’s forgotten heroes given powerful voice, you will delight in this novel.”—Sarah McCoy, author of the international bestseller 
The Baker’s Daughter

“At once chilling yet strangely beautiful… MacColl’s narrative is fortified by impeccable research and her innate ability to create a powerful bond between readers and characters. Well done.”—
Kirkus Reviews (starred)

About the Author

Mary-Rose MacColl is the author of five novels, a nonfiction book, short stories, feature journalism and essays. Her first novel,
No Safe Place, was a runner-up for the
Australian/Vogel Literary Award, and her first non-fiction book, 
The Birth Wars, was a finalist in the 2009 Walkley awards for journalism. Her novel
In Falling Snow was an international bestseller. She lives is Brisbane, Australia, with her husband and son, and is an ordinary swimmer.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof***

Copyright © 2017 Mary-Rose MacColl

1
 

Louisa Quick emerged into a morning as joyous as London offered. Princes Square was wearing summer finally, this late in August, almost as if the strange wintery weather of these last few weeks had never happened. The still-wet pavement glistened in the sunlight. There were birds—Louisa had no idea where they’d been until today. Her life seemed unimportant suddenly—the waiting room full of patients, the mountain of paperwork in the office, the grumbling nursing staff—all of it gone. Louisa might skip, she thought, or dance a jig, in weather like this. Well, someone else might skip or dance a jig. Normally, Louisa wouldn’t even be outside at this time of morning. She’d be inside, working. Where I would be still, she thought, if it weren’t for Helen An