I’m an author, reader and swimmer, so it’s the world’s least shocking announcement to reveal that I enjoy books about wild swimming (defined as swimming outdoors in natural waterways: sea, lakes, rivers, ponds, estuaries, etc.).
Many, but not all, wild swim books begin with a personal loss (job, home, death of a loved one, marriage ending, etc.) and the writer processes their grief and learns more about themselves through swimming. All the books I’ve read so far have been about breaking barriers (mental and physical), self-discovery and adventure.
An adventure can be as simple as swimming in a new location, with different people (and wildlife). For the more athletic, it might involve swimming across the English Channel or breaking other world records. While I’m unlikely to accomplish these things myself, I really enjoy reading about them from writers who describe them so compellingly that I feel as if I am there, swimming alongside them in the black, choppy water (long-distance swims often begin in darkness, I’ve learned).
I tend to read fiction on my ereader but I like to buy non-fiction books new or second hand, when possible, or get them from the library, because I enjoy dipping into them (no pun intended) and looking at the photos.
An assortment of swimming books.
In no particular order, below are some of my favourites that I read last year (2021):
Why We Swim – Bonnie Tsui
I bought this one as an audiobook (unusual for me, but my husband had some unused Audible credits) and I loved it. Described as a ‘love letter to swimming’, it’s evocative, meditative, spans time and place, and really brings to life the joy of swimming. As a history buff, I enjoyed that aspect too. For example: did you know Queen Victoria was a keen open water swimmer, and that upper-class British women in the late 1800s were wheeled to the water’s edge in a curtained wagon to protect their ‘modesty’? I only wish I had bought this book in hard copy so I could return to certain parts of it more easily.
Leap In: A Woman, Some Waves, and the Will to Swim – Alexandra Heminsley
I bought this one about a year ago when I was just starting to swim in the sea and didn’t really know how to go about it – which is exactly what Alexandra writes about. She’d tackled marathons so thought swimming would be easy, and had to think again. Like me, she had to sign up for swimming lessons in a pool before getting more serious in the sea. Her writing is frank, funny, and she doesn’t take herself too seriously. And her discovery about goggles – that a good pair will have a seal that fits automatically and you needn’t fiddle with them once they’re on – was an epochal moment. I haven’t had leaky goggles since.
Taking the Plunge: The Healing Power of Wild Swimming (pictured) – Anna Deacon and Vicky Allan
I love this hardcover book so much, I regularly open it to read random stories of people around the UK who reveal why they started swimming and where, and how much it has helped them. Beautiful photos, too.
Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long Distance Swimmer (pictured) - Lynne Cox
American swimmer Lynne Cox has broken open water swimming records around the world. While she doesn’t literally swim from America to Antarctica, she does swim in many treacherous locations – including a mile in Antarctica in a bathing suit! (Her cold-water endurance has been studied by scientists.) The book didn’t make me want to sign up to swim the English Channel or the Bering Strait, but her writing is so vivid that I was gripped by every story. She has a steely determination but is not self-aggrandising; she simply chose her destinations, prepared for each challenge, and each swim was bigger and more amazing than the last. Legend.
I am an Island (pictured) – Tamsin Calidas
I was browsing Unity Books last year armed with a voucher when I found this one on the Travel table. Well, anything non-fiction about remote islands, women alone and cold seas is coming straight home. While it’s not exactly a swimming book – Tamsin and her husband move from central London to a remote Scottish island in the Hebrides, and things don’t go exactly as planned – the final leg of the book includes her story about connecting with the water and embarking on a somewhat punishing, yet ultimately rewarding, daily ritual of sea swimming. In Northern Scotland, all year round. Brr. Her writing is lyrical and captivating, although I found her story almost unbearably bleak at times.
Swim: A Year of Swimming Outdoors in NZ (pictured) – Annette Lees
I’m a Kiwi so I wanted a local book about swimming, one where I recognised the locations (especially during this travel-restricted era). We are an isolated nation of beaches, rivers, lakes and islands, so it makes sense that we have a long-held connection with the water. The book explores that connection and Annette, who is a conservationist, also shares her own experience of travelling around Aotearoa New Zealand swimming in every body of water she can find: beaches, rivers, estuaries. It’s a lovely mix of travel essay, swim diary, nature writing, and history.
Honourable mentions: Waterlog by Roger Deacon (considered a sacred tome of wild swimming in the UK with beautiful nature writing, but it didn’t ‘speak’ to me); Swimming With Seals by Victoria Whitworth (I love her swim journal extracts in this book, but there’s a lot of Orkney history/mythology in there too that didn’t captivate me – she does talk about processing and accepting her fear of things in the water, which was useful); Phosphorescence by Julia Baird (loved the first couple of chapters, but then it lost me).
Which other wild swimming (or similar) books would you recommend?
I thoroughly enjoy your stories Shona. Keep writing and keep swimming. Sorry - no books to recommend on wild swimming but 'The salt path' by Raynor Winn (Biog.)is a lot to do with the benefits of sea and nature.