Swimming
Swimming
Swimming
Nicola Keegan
“I loved Swimming. It’s the most original novel I’ve read all year. I can’t get Pip’s voice out of my mind. Give yourself a treat this summer—read this book.”—Judy BlumeA spectacular debut about the rise of an Olympic champion—a novel about competition, obsession, the hunger for victory, and a young girl with an unsinkable spirit struggling to stay afloat in the only way she can.When we first meet Pip, the extraordinary heroine of Nicola Keegan’s first novel, she is landlocked in a small town in the center of Kansas, literally swimming for her life. Pip is tall and flat and smart and funny and supernaturally buoyant. On land, she has her share of troubles: an agoraphobic mother, a lost father, a drug-addled sister, and a Catholic education dominated by a group of high-energy nuns. But in the water, Pip is unstoppable. In the water, her suffering and rage are transmuted into grace and speed and beauty.Swimming is the story of Pip’s journey from a small Midwestern swim team to her first state meet, her brutal professional training, and the final, record-breaking swims that lead to her dizzying ascent to the Olympic podium in Barcelona. It’s the story of a girl who discovers, in the loneliness of adolescence, in the family tragedies that threaten to engulf her, the resilience of the human spirit and the spectacular power of her own body.A ferociously original novel, sparkling with wit and blazing with emotion, from a gifted new novelist.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Fiction
  • Juvenile Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
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Philomena Ash has been always known she would be a swimmmer, even at a young age. Ever since her parents brought her to an infant swim class, Pip has spent as much time in the pool as she can. The hard work and long hours in the water pay off when Pip begins attending state meets and training with the best coaches in the country. But even winning Olympic gold medals can't fix Pip's life. With a completely dysfunctional family, Pip has been trying to stay afloat in more ways than one.

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