The Tidal Year
shortlisted for the Nero Book Awards 2023
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4.9 • 7 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
'A beautiful, brilliantly written book on grief, self-discovery and swimming' EMMA GANNON
'Immersive and compelling' CATHY RENTZENBRINK
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO BOOK AWARDS 2023*
In a bid to fill the empty space left by her brother's death, Freya sets out with her friend Miri to swim every tidal pool in Britain in a year. The adventure takes them from a pool hidden in the cliffs of Polperro to the quarry lagoon of Abereiddi, via the Trinkie in northernmost Scotland where locals meet each year to give the pool wall a fresh lick of paint. The further Freya travels, the closer she finds herself to memories of her brother. With every swim, the challenge becomes more than just a way to explore the country's furthest reaches, but a journey of self-discovery.
The Tidal Year is a story about the healing power of wild swimming and the space it creates for reflection, rewilding and hope. An exploration of grief in the modern age, it's also a tale of female rage, sisterhood and falling in love after loss.
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'Some of the best writing on wild swimming that I have encountered' MARIANNE LEVY
'I found myself blinking back tears' HARPER'S BAZAAR
'A poignant, funny tribute to the complex, tidal nature of grief' JADE ANGELES FITTON
'Funny and moving, brimming with bracingly refreshing uncertainty' POLLY ATKIN
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Freya Bromley lost her younger brother to cancer when he was 19. A few years later, adrift and uncertain of everything, swimming is the only place she feels truly alive in her body and connected to herself. The ostensible challenge she and her closest friend undertake is to swim in every tidal pool in Britain—those spaces which safely contain the wild sea—but her true mission is for herself, to reclaim the young woman unmoored by tragedy at just the moment she should have been establishing her own life. Bromley’s writing is tender, thoughtful and compassionate at times; frank, funny and angry at others. As she grapples with her loss, some of her observations are so acute and so unvarnished they will make you ache for her, and you can feel her commitment to sharing all of her story, to exposing all of her grief even in its rawness and rage.
