Surfacing

<p><b>'Bright, vivid, funny and bracing – and so very well written ... a wonderful book that will reach, touch and speak to many readers' Robert Macfarlane, author of <i>Is a River Alive? </i></b></p><p><b>‘<i>Surfacing </i>is about keeping your head above water even as life pushes you under. Inspirational and uplifting, I loved it' Bonnie Garmus, author of <i>Peck and Peck</i></b></p><p><b>'Glorious, connective, profound, and exciting - a masterpiece. I absolutely loved it' Lynne Cox, author of<i> Swimming to Antarctica </i></b></p><p><b>'You don't have to be a swimmer to rejoice in this book' Val McDermid</b></p><p><b>--</b></p><p><b>When life narrowed, I refused to shrink. I set off. And I swam'</b></p><p>We are all looking for a way to live that feels true. For Kate Rew, swimming outdoors, beneath the sky and through the elements, is that way: it’s a cannon of joy in a complicated world where, when life closes in, it’s all too easy to lose sight of the horizon.</p><p>Kate does not swim to make herself better - ‘life is not an illness and nature is not there for our therapy’- but because swimming is a way of letting meaning sneak back in through the body.</p><p>Blending memoir, adventure and nature writing she swims with friends, family and people she meets along the way: up a cold Welsh estuary where the tide surges under low autumn skies; down 24 kilometres of peat-dark river from the Arctic Circle where reindeer watch from the banks; through muddy rivers and ditches close to her Somerset home and into Guernsey sea gullies where clear waves tower above her.</p><p><i>Surfacing </i>is a life-affirming story of connection, with people, places and the parts of ourselves that can disappear. Taking us on an exhilarating, heart-opening journey through rivers, seas and reservoirs both close to home and further afield, it’s a book for anyone who has ever felt hemmed in, and who wants to lift their eyes to the horizon and keep striking out for more.</p><p>It’s about not being afraid of what’s around the next bend.</p>