Swimming Home

by Mary-Rose MacColl

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.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Sports, Drama, Book Club, Audiobook

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Mary-Rose MacColl is an Australian writer whose first novel, No Safe Place, was runner-up in the 1995 Australian Vogel literary award. Her first non-fiction book, The Birth Wars, was a finalist in the 2009 Walkley Awards. In Falling Snow (October 2012), Mary-Rose's fourth novel, tells the largely unknown story of a small group of Scottish women who ran a field hospital for France in World War I in an old abbey. MacColl holds degrees in journalism and creative writing and lives between Brisbane, Australia and Banff, Canada with her husband and son.

Reviews

[♥ Sandi ❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great heartfelt historical novel. This is my first novel by Mary-Rose MacColl, but will not be my last. Her mastery of allowing you to see, hear, smell and feel the words on the page is a rare gift. Her characters spring off the page and are those who you wish were your neighbors.

This novel is about two very strong determined female characters. They are brought together by the death of a father/brother. Aunt and niece have lived very different lives - one prim and proper, sans children - the other unkempt, active and carefree. One from Australia, forced out of her element, the other from London, who goes back to her normal routine. Once this match is made it is obvious that things must change - niece Cathrine loves to swim - has always swam. Aunt Louisa resumes her duties as a doctor and insists Catherine's etiquette and education come first. Enters Manfred Lear Black, a rich American banker, and all status quo is shattered.

Thank you to First to Read for the digital ARC.

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a historical fiction that takes place in London, England in 1925. Catherine is a 15 year old girl that as loss so much and was sent to London to live with her Aunt, but all she want is to go back to Australia and swim. I loved learning about the time period and following this hard headed 15 year old girl. I really love Catherine's character, but the Aunt's character had to grow on me. I love that this historical fiction was not all about a war, but it was about this young girl just wanting to swim and do things girls should not do during that time period. This was a great book.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swimming Home is the sixth novel by Mary-Rose MacColl, her previous book In Falling Snow was a favourite read of mine in 2012.

Exploring the themes of family, belonging, regret, and redemption, Swimming Home is a gracious and engaging novel.

When fifteen year old Catherine is orphaned, her aunt, Dr Louisa Quick, insists she abandons her idyllic island home in the Torres Strait and move with her to London. An independent and busy surgeon, Louisa is determined to provide her niece with the opportunity to become a well educated and successful young lady, but Catherine is miserable in her exclusive day school, missing the warmth of her Islander family, and the ocean. It's not until Catherine swims the width of the Thames on a dare and Louisa is approached by the enigmatic banker Manfred Lear Black, that she reconsiders her plans for her niece.

As a doctor, Louisa is intelligent and confident, but she struggles to relate to her niece and, uncomfortable with emotion, she makes some poor decisions when it comes to seeing to Catherine's well being. Though there is no malice intended, Louisa's actions have far reaching consequences and she suffers a crisis of conscience as the novel progresses. Louisa is not a particularly likeable character at times but I think MacColl portrays her well, and I was sympathetic to her flaws.

Catherine is resigned to her new life in London and wants to please her aunt, but she is lonely and homesick. Having spent almost everyday of her life swimming in the ocean, she jumps at the chance to swim to under Manfred Lear Black's patronage in New York. I felt for Catherine, whose loving and idyllic childhood came to such an abrupt end. She is remarkably stoic, but her longing is palpable and she obviously feels out of place, London contrasts sharply with her island home, as does the New York 'tanks' to her beloved ocean.

There are two subtle threads of mystery that run through the story, and a few surprises in the plot though Swimming Home progresses at a measured pace. What action there is stems largely from the Black's determination that Catherine will be the first woman to swim the breadth of the English Channel. MacColl weaves fiction with fact as she writes of Catherine's competitors, including Gertrude Ederle who was the first woman to swim the channel in 1926 and I enjoyed learning something about the birth of competitive swimming for women.

Set in an interesting period, with complex characters and a thoughtful story, Swimming Home is a finely written, poignant and pensive, but ultimately uplifting novel.

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four and a half stars.
Louisa is an independent career woman and busy surgeon in London. As such she suffers the inability to deal with some of the diseases that back in 1925 were life threatening. Conditions for those who are poor only add to the difficulties of those suffering diseases such as scarlet fever. How times have changed! These days scarlet fever can be dealt with by a course of antibiotics.
On the other side of the world Catherine is enjoying life in her island home, cared for by a loving father Harry, Louisa’s brother, and the dark skinned Islander Florence. Then without warning life changes for both of them. After her brother’s sudden death Louisa, who has fought valiantly for equality for women, is confronted with caring for Catherine. But what Louisa thinks is best for Catherine is vastly different to what 15 year old Catherine wants.
Even though I am not into swimming, which is a major part of this book, I found this story drawing me in, compelling me to read it. The settings are interesting as are the characters. While I may not have agreed with their choices, and I was horrified by some, I liked these characters. I found them complex and easy to relate to. Often their intentions were good, while their actions had different consequences to what they anticipated. The story shows how deceit can build up a web of lies that can affect more than just the person perpetuating the lie. This was a book I couldn’t wait to get back to, to see how issues were resolved. I enjoyed Mary-Rose MacColl’s earlier book but I enjoyed this one a little more. I can heartily recommend this book.
It will be interesting to see what this author writes next. Thanks to The Reading Room an Allen & Unwin for my ARC copy to read and review.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from The Reading Room and Allen & Unwin to review. It’s with many thanks that I do so.
I really enjoyed this book and I give it a solid 4 stars. It took me a long time to come to like Louisa – a surgeon in London who devotes her entire life to helping the poor, but didn’t have much compassion for her young niece, although that did develop along the way. Catherine, (the young niece) looses her family and is taken from the only island home she has known and loved. Sadly, what Louisa wants in life for Catherine is different to what Catherine wants!
This book, set in a time after the first war, has been done very well. You know and are drawn back to 1925 very convincingly. Although I’m not into swimming, it’s just something that has always been there for holidays and kids swimming carnivals – the book did get me thinking as to how difficult it was for women to get into swimming back then. Not something that had ever crossed my mind before, and the way people thought about women swimming professionally in that time period was astounding!!
If you pick up this book, make sure you have a good chance to get into it as I found at the beginning it goes from present to past and when I put the book down, struggled to work out where I was again! But after that, and when sticking to the present, it flows better then.
And with a couple of twists and turns by the end that I didn’t expect, I found this a really good, compelling read.
Thanks to The Reading Room an Allen & Unwin for my ARC copy to read and review.

[Kim Wilkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary-Rose MacColl is one of my favourite writers, and has more recently taken a turn towards historical fiction ("In Falling Snow").

"Swimming Home" is a novel of beautiful sensory delights. We feel full-colour Queensland humidity and grey London cold, we feel wet and dry, we smell coconut and chlorine. Reading it was luxuriating in the sensual, even though at no point was I looking at anything other than black marks on a white page. It was a kind of magic spell.

And within this world, the characters came alive. Louisa, who is so clever and always does the right thing until she does the wrong thing so breath-takingly that we can only feel worried for her. Catherine, who is as simple and determined as only the very young can be. Manfred Lear Black, who has his own reasons for knowing his wealth does not equal his happiness. Florence, Nellie, Michael: all full-bodied creations and all responsible for a few tears each, as their lives unfolded across the pages.

But what I loved best about this novel was the way that it took seriously the meaning of women's lives. Women's lives lived not just as small things, but as rolling horizons out in the world: New York, London, the Torres Strait. This story gives us both intimacy and scope, mirroring the movement between what is shown in the book on the ground, in the water, and from the air.

Top notch historical fiction from a writer at the top of her game.

[RitaSkeeter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find myself drawn to books about water and swimming, and I had an abundance of both in this book.

Catherine grew up in an idyllic location in the Torres Strait with her father; her mother having died when she was an infant. Following the death of her father, Catherine - now 15 years - moves to London to be with her aunt. Through her young life Catherine had loved swimming, and this continued, with Catherine training and competing in the USA before attempting to swim the English Channel. You'll have to read the book to see if she makes it.

Catherine is a very likeable character, and one you want to come out on top and be happy. Her aunt, Louisa, infuriated me and I really couldn't stand her for much of the book. Having such a visceral reaction to her was a sign to me of a well-drawn character.

There is a lot packed into this book thematically. Suffrage, secrets, relationships; what makes someone kin; pressure; the role of media. The theme I found most interesting was the focus on suffrage, and the difference in how women approached this. Louisa - a doctor - was a pioneer in her field, and was a strong advocate of women's rights. However, she didn't understand or have empathy for women who were fighting for equality in areas other than employment - for example, sport (swimming).

What really shines for me with this book though, were the scenes set on Thursday Island. I could smell the coconut and the salt water. I could feel the sun beating, and see it glinting in the water. These scenes were contrasted with Catherine's experience of London. I can't speak highly enough of those scenes set on Thursday Island - they were incredibly evocative and I wish there had been more.

With thanks to the publisher and Goodreads First Reads for this copy to read and review.

[Maria Gunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite aspect of Mary-Rose MacColl's Swimming Home was its sensual imagery. I could smell the tropical sea, hear the clang and clatter of early 20th century New York and feel the chill of a London spring.
MacColl's love of swimming pervades every page, and descriptions of the activity are beautifully rendered. Her extensive research adds authenticity, but never takes over the story.
Female empowerment through education and employment opportunity is a central theme of the story. It is a sobering reminder of how restricted women's lives were at the time, and the sacrifices many endured to do work that they loved and believed important.
An evocative, enthralling read. Highly recommended.

[Bree T · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s 1925 and after an idyllic childhood growing up in the Torres Strait Islands, learning to swim in the clear warm waters, Catherine finds herself an orphan and living with her aunt in England. She’s miserable, trapped in a school where she doesn’t fit in, where she hasn’t been raised the same way as the other girls. She can’t swim, something she has lived for as long as she can remember. Her aunt Louisa is a busy doctor and she holds views on the way Catherine needs to behave now. The time for running wild on the island is over – she needs to grow up into a well rounded young woman who now has the opportunity to do anything, to be anything.

A chance meeting with rich American Manfred Lear Black gives Catherine the opportunity she so desperately craves – the chance to swim. He convinces Catherine to come to New York and go up against some of America’s best female swimmers. He’s convinced that she could be the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel and he’s willing to provide the financial backing for her attempt. But is it simply an innocent interest in finding a champion or does he have deeper motives?

Swimming Home is the latest novel from bestselling author Mary-Rose MacColl and it gives the reader three very different settings – an island in the Torres Strait off the coast of the northern tip of Australia, London and then New York. Catherine grew up the daughter of a doctor who worked on a remote island in the Torres Strait. She learned to swim in the open water at an incredibly young age and it’s something that shapes her entire life, as are her relationships with her father’s native housekeeper, who has cared for Catherine since the death of her mother when she was a toddler, as well as the housekeeper’s son Michael. On the island, the relationships are different, although the native Torres Straight Islanders do not escape having their children taken to be ‘fostered out’ among white families in order to see them raised properly and put to work.

When Catherine is 14, her father dies leaving her an orphan. He makes his sister, Catherine’s Aunt Louisa her guardian, someone Catherine has only seen once when she was a young child. Unmarried, Louisa is a busy surgeon, not at all sure of how to raise a teenage girl. Still she does her family duty and travels to the islands to bring Catherine back to England, seemingly unaware just how reluctant Catherine is to leave her home and move somewhere so utterly removed from everything she has ever known. To be honest I thought Louisa, although clueless about adolescents, did show quite a bit of shortsightedness here, thinking that enrolling Catherine in good school where she would be very unlikely to fit in, especially immediately would be the answer to Catherine’s development. I understand where she was coming from and her thoughts on how to raise Catherine, a girl who had been left to really kind of go wild, from an English point of view. But she really seems very oblivious to the fact that the girl has had so much change in her life and she’s miserable. She’s had the things and people she loves most taken from her and she’s moved to a place that’s the virtual opposite of everything she’s ever known. Louisa is very busy and she has trouble actually sitting down and talking to Catherine, as Catherine’s presence stirs up memories for her. It’s Louisa’s housekeeper Nellie who understands how lonely and out of place Catherine feels. When Catherine swims the Thames, she is asked to leave her exclusive school but it also in its own way, is the catalyst for the presentation of opportunity.

I really enjoyed reading about Catherine as a character – her unusual upbringing, her difficulty in fitting in once she moved to England and her devotion to swimming. For Catherine it wasn’t just a past time, it was a necessity. Something she required for her mental well being, it was almost as much a part of her life as breathing. And not just swimming, but the sort of open water swimming she had grown up with. Training in a tank in New York, attempting to adapt her stroke to what her coach wanted, wasn’t enough to satisfy the craving in her to just get out on the water and swim. I loved the part of the book devoted to swimming and the move towards the first woman being able to swim the English Channel. As someone who cannot really swim (bit embarrassing, being an Australian!), the idea of swimming such a distance is mind-boggling. The fatigue, the cold, the sheer length of time it takes – it’s amazing that someone of Catherine’s age with pretty much no formal training, could be considered for such a feat.

There are a few mysteries and twists in this book which are really interesting. So interesting in fact that I’d have loved to read more about the time before Catherine was born. The upbringing of Louisa and her medical studies and what happened to her would’ve been good to read about in greater detail, as well as Catherine’s parents’ marriage. There could’ve been a deeper delving into the island life of the early 1900’s, especially what it was like when her parents first arrived there. I really could’ve read a lot more in this setting.

Swimming Home is a beautifully written story of a girl who just wants the freedom to go home, to be with the people she loves and do what she loves. I did really like the way in which the relationship between Louisa and Catherine evolved, even though they did spent quite a bit of time apart. Louisa makes some difficult choices sometimes, you can see where she’s coming from and why she might do it but you can also see that it’s going to make things even more difficult between her and Catherine and from those different places they have to come together and reach an understanding, air the secrets between them in order to move forward. The believability and well-roundness of the characters are definitely a strong point and it’s the sort of book that makes you feel as if you know the people involved. I only wish there’d been more.

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful and endearing read!
Unexpected twists and turns… you gotta love those particularly in a gentle and sweet tale.
The story centres around 15 year old Catherine and her aunt Louisa. Catherine is a swimmer, and her love of swimming was excellently depicted. Her aunt is a doctor and runs a clinic for the disadvantaged.
Her best friend Michael calls her Waapi, which in his native language means fish.
Tragedy strikes and Catherine must leave her beautiful island life and live with her aunt in grey and damp London.
Set in the 1920s. The story also takes place in Paris and New York.
My favourite parts were the Thursday Island scenes and the gorgeous vivid descriptions.
I’m a crappy swimmer but I enjoyed Catherine’s swimming experiences and her effort of swimming across the English Channel.

I really enjoyed the audio version narrated by Saskia Maarleveld. Recommended.

[Bkwmlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a surprisingly good read and a quick one too despite its length (400+ pages). I will admit though that when I first saw the title and read the summary, I wasn’t sure if it would be my kind of book. The main reason is because the story seemed to revolve around swimming, both for recreation and as a sport – nothing wrong with that of course, but I tend to shy away from books about athletics and sports because, well, I’m not “outdoorsy” and because I’m not into sports of any kind, I’m afraid I might get bored if a book gets too technical about the sport. Well, it turned out that with Mary-Rose MacColl’s Swimming Home, I had nothing to worry about. Yes, the book was about swimming and yes, the sport played an important role in the story, with the author even blending real life swimming history into the story (for example -- names of real swimmers with real achievements, real swim organizations, historical facts about swimming and the women’s movement, etc.). However, there was much much more to the story than just swimming. MacColl actually explores a variety of different subjects in the book, including family relationships, friendship, society convention and prejudices, gender equality and women’s rights, coming-of-age, class system (rich versus poor), etc. What I liked best though was the good dose of history that the author was able to incorporate into the story, both via the setting (1920s Europe and U.S. when aviation hadn’t really taken off yet so people took the train or boat when travelling between countries and also no telephone either so people wired one another via telegrams) as well as actual historical events that had taken place (i.e.: the WSA’s fight for women’s rights in swimming, the changes in society that were part of the aftermath of World War I, famous achievements such as swimmer Gertrude Ederle being the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926, etc.). There were even some undercurrents of a subtle mystery that ran throughout the story, which resulted in a bit of a twist in the end that I totally did not expect. The beauty of the way the story was written though (yes, this book was definitely well-written), was that none of the subjects this book dealt with were overpowering in any way -- each subject/theme was given adequate treatment without going overboard, which I definitely appreciated.

This book also had good character development, especially with the 2 main characters : Louisa Quick, a doctor in London who was instrumental in helping to lead the female empowerment through education movement in her youth, and her niece Catherine Quick, a teenager born and raised on a remote island in Australia whose affinity with the sea and swimming was as natural as eating and breathing. To be honest, I really didn’t like Louisa much in the beginning and some of her actions were truly appalling, but then I realized that the way her character was written was actually very realistic. Basically, she was a good person who made mistakes – lots of them….in other words, she was flawed just like the rest of us. Catherine, on the other hand, was a character I liked from the start – her carefree manner was infectious and I enjoyed getting to accompany her as she comes-of-age after her father dies unexpectedly and she is relocated to London to live with her aunt. I loved that Catherine grew and matured after her various experiences in London and New York, but yet the core of who she was never changed and her passion for swimming stayed strong throughout.

I read a few reviews of this book that said the plot was too slow, which made it hard to get into the story. I partially agree in that the plot was indeed slow at first and it did take a few dozen pages for the story to really take off, but after that, I didn’t have any problems getting into the story. In fact, I found the story quite engaging at this point and I was so invested in the characters that I just wanted to keep reading so I could find out what happens to them in the end. I also appreciated the good use of descriptions and imagery throughout the story – again, adequate and not overpowering while staying true to the historical context of the time period.

This is a book I would definitely recommend, especially to those who enjoy well-written historical fiction that is also well-researched, with a story that has depth, but is also easy to read. One observation I would like to mention though – I noticed this book was originally published in October 2015, but I received an ARC of this last month with an expected publication date in June 2017. I didn’t really look into it but I noticed the 2017 release is for the paperback version – so I guess this is technically an “older” book from 2 years ago that is being re-released in paperback now. Just a random observation in case there is confusion on the release dates for this book.

Received ARC from Penguin Books via Penguin First-to-Read program.

[Kenneth Iltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's 1925 and 15-year-old Catherine's is sent to live in London with her Aunt Louisa after her father died. She lived with her father on an island off the northeast shore of Australia. Catherine misses swimming with her best friend Michael in the ocean off her island. While in London, she takes up a dare and swims across the Thames. She is noticed by a rich American banker who wants to take her to New York and train her to swim the English Channel.

Her aunt and guardian Louisa approves the move and Catherine trains for her swim across the English Channel. Does she make it? No spoilers here.

I enjoyed this book. The writer needs a bit more polish but it all seems to work. You need to incorporate a suspension of disbelief when the rich American banker not only bankrolls Catherine but also bankrolls Louisa’s medical clinic for the poor in London.

There is a historic basis for the book. The concept of women swimming competitively was new in the early 20th Century. In 1926, on her second attempt, 19-year-old Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the 21 miles from Dover, England, to Cape Griz-Nez across the English Channel, which separates Great Britain from the northwestern tip of France.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book. I offer this honest review in exchange.

This was not one of my favorite historical fiction. The story is based on the race to be the first woman to swim across the English Channel. The book did stimulate me to dig into the interesting facts of the actual historic event, but I was frustrated by the characters. Louisa fights gender prejudice to become a surgeon and run a women's clinic for the poor but she can't support her niece & ward's dream to swim (a most unfeminine activity)? She finally agrees to allow her niece to travel to the US to train with a team of women who planning to swim across the English Channel, but her motivation is more selfish than supportive.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5. Not a terrible book, but overall just kind of flat and dull. The plot never really goes anywhere and the characters don't have any life. The author has a habit of writing a scene from one character's perspective and then a few pages later writing the same scene again from a different character's perspective but adding nothing of interest. This repetitiveness gets wearisome after a while and really seems like a fault of the editor more so than the writer. Overall, this reads like the first attempt of an amateur writer, though I believe it is the author's second book. The ideas are there, but the execution just isn't.

[Kylie H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book partially set in far North Queensland, London and New York. Post World War 1 look at the world for women athletes and how they are viewed. Louisa is a Doctor in a time when female doctors are yet to be accepted, she becomes guardian for her niece Catherine who appears born to swim.

[Jo_Scho_Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. An interesting piece of historical fiction.
It’s 1925 and fifteen year old Catherine Quickloves nothing more than swimming in the waters near her Australian home. Despite this not being a fashionable concept in the 1920s, Catherine doesn’t care, she swims like a fish and adores the water.

But then tragedy strikes, her Aunt Louisa, is forced to travel all the way from England to bring Catherine home with her to start a new life here. Catherine is homesick and yearns for the water. Her spinster aunt is a busy surgeon and unsure of the role she now needs to play with her niece. But then a chance encounter leads the two women to New York, the city of opportunities. And a chance for Catherine to train in the hope of becoming the first woman to ever swim the English Channel. Can it be done? Can Catherine be the one to do it?

An enjoyable read about two strong women and it was fascinating to hear of the changes happening in the world during that time. However I did feel that at times there wasn’t much happening with the plot but then by the end, to wrap things up, almost too much was happening.

[Amanda - Mrs B's Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brisbane based author Mary-Rose MaColl first caught my attention when I read her 2012 release In Falling Snow. Swimming Home is her latest release and a novel I whole heartedly endorse as a fantastic read from cover to cover.
Swimming Home is the beautiful story of two fiercely strong and determined women in their own right. In 1925, fifteen year old Catherine Quick’s life is irrevocably changed when she must make the move from her idyllic island home in the Torres Strait, north of the mainland of Australia, to live with her Aunt Louisa in London. Still grieving from the loss of her Father and the sea change she must make from her sunny home to the bleakness of London, Catherine struggles to fit in to her new surrounds. Catherine tries hard to please her Aunt Louisa, who always appears constantly busy running her clinics for the poor as a successful female surgeon. To fit in with her peers at her new boarding school, Catherine takes on a challenge set by the girls at her school to swim the Thames. Catherine does so successfully, gaining notoriety in the newspaper but also earning the ire of her Aunt Louisa. Despite being expelled from her boarding school for the incident, Catherine’s successful swimming achievement gains the attention of a Mr Manfred Lear Black, a wealthy American who finances a women’s only swimming club in America. The acquaintance with Manfred Lear Black leads to Louisa and Catherine to make a journey to the US. Manfred requests that Louisa assist in a clinic he has financed. Manfred also hopes that Catherine’s time at the women’s swimming club in America will prepare her to for ultimate achievement in women’s swimming - to successfully swim the renowned English Channel. Louisa and Catherine find that their journey together to foreign shores opens up more than just personal attainments. It also signals the opening of deep seated family secrets, lies from the past and a chance to atone for previous decisions.
Swimming Home is a graceful coming of age story, combined with a family mystery. I lapped up the threads focussed on Catherine Quick’s childhood growing up in the tranquil waters of the Torres Strait Islands region of Australia. This was aided by MaColl’s wonderfully languid descriptions of island life, she skilfully depicts the people and the relaxed nature of the place itself. I felt completed transported to another place and time, often feeling like I was drifting alongside Catherine and her companion, Islander Michael. Equally vivid are the descriptions of Catherine’s life in London. I experienced the stark contrast of colourful island life to the greyness and briskness of life in this very different part of the world to Australia.
MaColl has devised two admirable characters in Catherine and Louisa. Both women make great achievements in their own right. From ambitious Louisa as a female surgeon, a rare figure in her profession, to Catherine obviously as the first female to undertake the English Channel swim. As much as this is an engaging story of family issues, it also presents a very interesting social history of the treatment of women in the 1920’s era. MacColl provides superb insight into the societal attitudes of the time and also provides an examination of the birth of woman’s competitive swimming. Readers will find it enlightening to discover that many of the background characters featured in the swimming aspects of the novel were actually based on real life people who lived in this time and era of women’s swimming.
For me the delight in this book came from the rather unexpected but completely fitting ending. It suited the novel perfectly. I also enjoyed witnessing how Louisa and Catherine, who are at odds with one another, unable to understand each other motivations, come to a union at the close of the novel.
I highly recommend choosing Swimming Home. It is an extremely well written book that rewards its reader with a passionate family drama and a comprehensive social history of women in the 1920’s.

*This review also appears on my blog https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com...

[Natalie S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary-Rose Maccoll is a very versatile writer. She is a regular contributor at the QWeekend Magazine, her non-fiction book, “Birth Wars” was a finalist in the Walkley awards and she’s also worked as a corporate writer and has now released her fifth novel, “Swimming Home”. This book is a celebration of two women achieving remarkable things in 1925 and finds the right balance between drama, tension, love and life in a post-war setting.

The story is mostly about Catherine Quick, a talented 15-year-old swimmer who has grown up in Australia. But tragedy strikes and she is left orphaned at this young and difficult age. Her new legal guardian is her Aunt Louisa, a successful career woman and surgeon who lives in London and at first glance is someone who does not appear to be particularly maternal. This event means that Catherine must leave her idyllic island home where she was previously cared for by Florence; an indigenous woman and where they lived happily with the latter’s son, Michael as well as Catherine’s father.

The move from Australia to London is tough on Catherine. The culture shock is huge and it takes some time for this young woman to realise what she really wants: to be free to swim. One day an American investment banker, Manfred Lear Black realises Catherine’s potential and offers her the chance to go to America to train with a professional swim team. He hopes that Catherine will one day be the first woman to swim across the English Channel. But things don’t always go according to plan.

“Swimming Home” is an excellent character study where Maccoll does an exceptional job of crafting some complex and relatable characters and examining their relationships with one another. It also looks at how some lies (some which may have seemed like innocent little white ones to those telling them at the time) can snowball and have devastating effects on other people around them. It’s ultimately an absorbing and well-researched tale that successfully dips between the past and the present.

Mary-Rose Maccoll’s “Swimming Home” is a novel that engages the reader thanks to its good use of tension and drama as well as a personal and intimate style of telling the character’s stories. It’s a celebration of women as they pioneered for their own rights and challenged the social expectations of the time. There are lots of twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and while the ending felt a little rushed this was still a well-constructed, inspiring and wonderful read about some women who set their sights high and achieved the extraordinary.

[Melissa Sargent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brisbane author Mary-Rose MacColl may be, in her own words, an ordinary swimmer, but her recent novel SWIMMING HOME shows a deep understanding of the water and all its dangers.

The story is set in grey, mid 1920’s London but is offset by the blue sky, warm water and carefree idyll of colonial Torres Strait. In London, Louisa is a busy surgeon running a clinic for the poor. Her brother Harry is also a doctor in the Torres Strait, and his young daughter, Catherine, is living a dreamlike childhood, free from the restrictions of life in London. After a series of unfortunate circumstances, childless and feminist Louisa becomes guardian for Catherine, brings her to England, enrols her in School and intends to get back to her routine.

Deep entrenchment of island life and all that it has represented to a wildly independent, teenager who has suddenly become a fish out of water in a strange city after trauma, manifests in an audacious dare that Catherine cannot refuse. Catherine plunges into to Thames and swims across to prove herself to her peers only to find herself expelled from her ‘good’ School and catapulted into a quest to be the first woman to swim the English Channel. Thrust into change that brings back a haunting past, Louisa must adapt to a new life.

Enter enigmatic banker Manfred Lear, his endless funds and belief in Catherine as an amazing swimmer after witnessing her heroic crossing of the Thames. As the story progresses we come to understand past and present, choices and regrets, truth from lie. Beautifully told, this is one of the most satisfying endings I’ve read for a while.

There are so many currents in this book, let them float you along on the journey.

melissa-sargent.com
LOVEthatBOOK

[Rori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway. I had enjoyed MacColl's "In Falling Snow" so I was really looking forward to reading another of her historical fiction novels. Unfortunately this one fell a bit flat for me. The plot itself had the potential to be intriguing, following a young woman who has been uprooted from her sheltered upbringing on an Australian island to the busy city of London after her father's death. She is being cared for by her aunt who has the distinction of being one of the few female surgeons of the time and has actively campaigned for improved health care for the poor. Catherine had loved swimming in Australia and takes a dare to swim across the Thames in an effort to fit in at her new school with startling results, including the proposition by a wealthy American to fund her training in preparation for Catherine to become the first woman to swim the English Channel. A great set-up! However, to me the characterizations felt forced. There was more telling than showing and the actions of the characters seemed to fly in the face of what the narrator told us were key parts of their personality. While I certainly appreciate the dichotomy between who we want to be and what we actually do, there was little that seemed to fit that bill here. There also seemed to be quite a few threads of the story that seemed to potentially lead to a deeper understanding of the characters, but they all seemed to trail off without resolution or exploration. This was an okay read, but left me feeling a bit disappointed at the end.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Catherine Quick is a young fifteen-year-old that loves to swim. She arrives in London from her native Australia after her beloved father passes away. She feels connected with her father when she swims. However, living in London with her aunt Louisa, Catherine feels everything she holds dearly to her has been taken away.

Louisa is a surgeon in London and is well known for her fight for equality for women. She has strict opinions and views on the appropriate behavior for her young niece. Louisa wants Catherine to focus on getting her education as she did. However, Catherine is rebellious and she is trying to find a way to fit into her new life. Louisa can't help to worry about Catherine's choices as she deals with her own past trauma. During a chance meeting with American banker, Manfred Lear Black, Louisa decides to bring Catherine to NY to train to swim the English Channel. Louisa is hesitant at first but, then she tries to listen to her heart.

I thought the novel was a rather boring and drawn-out read. I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. I didn't care for Louisa as a person because she claims she wants equality for women but, makes choices for other women without their knowledge or consent. However, she was upset when someone did the same thing to her.

[Matthew McElroy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. 400 pages and the characters never actually change. How did that happen? I would like to register my dissatisfaction in a way that doesn't give anything away. I suppose the best way to do that is explain that as you read, waiting for something, anything to happen, nothing will happen. This isn't like the Fellowship of the Ring, where hobbits spend 300 pages walking, but you have an idea of where the story is going. This is something different: a build-up and then a letdown, a buildup and a letdown, and so forth.

Catherine is a really good swimmer. She swims for fun. When her father dies, she is ripped away from Australia to live with her aunt in London. Early in the story, as she does the thing she is best at, her aunt decides she needs a change of scenery. Her aunt, Louisa, is always meddling with something, and... God, I won't spoil any specific storylines, but Louisa never changes at all.

Imagine the best writer at an average high school. This story reads like a solid high school writer wrote it. It's not bad. It's just not good. The story is pushed forward by events, rather than any kind of changes among the characters. There is only one resolution in the entire book, and I'm not sure there are any consequences for anyone.

[Lucifer "Argyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this in a Giveaway here on Goodreads.

Okay, I hate having to DNF books I was gifted, but it's time. I've been reading this book for almost two months and I honestly probably haven't touched it in several weeks. It's just time to put this book down and stop trying to force myself to finish it before moving on.

It's not that it's a bad book, it is very well written, but the main protagonist is just beyond frustrating. She's a feminist in the 1920's (I think) and she keeps pushing the idea that women can do anything men can do, but then when her niece wants to swim, she's not okay with it because it's too masculine or something like that. I don't know, she was just rubbing me the wrong way, and if I genuinely don't like a character to that extent, then I'm not going to enjoy the book and I don't want to spend any more time hung up on it.

I really appreciate having the chance to read it, and I'm kind of bummed I didn't like it, but I'll either gift it to someone else or donate it to my local library so it still gets the love it deserves.

[Nada · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting piece of history about swimming and women's independence and a not-uncommon premise about family secrets make Swimming Home by Mary-Rose MacColl an interesting read. The globe-hopping story creates a seemingly quick pace, but the plot itself moves slowly. Although the focus is on fifteen year old Catherine's swimming, this book is very much her aunt Louisa's story. For this reason, this belongs in adult fiction even though Catherine's story has a young adult flair. Either way, the book is a quick, light summer read.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017...

Reviewed for Penguin First to Read program.

[Kendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is compelling, but she needed a better editor. Too long, many unnecessary words, to a point of redundancy that slowed the novel to a painful slog. The subject matter had the potential to be pretty great. This telling of that story, however, is not.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great themes here: girl power, women's rights regarding their bodies, imperialism vs. cultural identity, all handled with a light touch and an engaging story. It is 1925 -- the scandalous beginning of true modernization of short hair and short skirts, jazz music and loosened strictures about men and women mixing. Dr. Louisa Quick is a competent surgeon, but a much less competent guardian of her niece Catherine who has newly moved to London from Australia after the death of her father, Harry, Louisa's brother. At 15, Catherine is naive, but accomplished in school subjects, which Louisa values, and in swimming, which she does not. Raised on Thursday Island, Catherine had grown up without a mother, but had Florence a native housekeeper and Michael her son, who has been like a brother to here. After Harry's sudden death and her subsequent move to London, Catherine is adrift without the anchors of her home life. Staying on the island was never an option to Louisa, who viewed the school there and the life through the lens of British superiority. With the help of her own housekeeper Nellie, Louisa begins to see the depths of Catherine's unhappiness and how she patently does not fit in at her London all girls' school where the cattiness of fellow students and sternness of instructors is counter-intuitive to everything Catherine knows. When she swims across the Thames in a desperate bid for friendship and approval, she is expelled but is also propelled into the limelight and the attention of Manfred Lear Black (an historically accurate character). He believes she can be the first woman to swim the English Channel and the remainder of the story becomes about her quest to do it. Because she is so guileless, Catherine wants to do it for the thrill of swimming and testing herself and pleasing Black rather than the fame and fortune it would bring her. Louisa is uncertain, but sees the positive impact swimming has on her charge, even as she is withholding letters from Florence and Michael in the hope it will make Catherine forget them and move on with her life. She has her own interest in Black who has promised to fund her medical clinic and has also pursued her as a love interest. Though Louisa has been forward-thinking and revolutionary in her own time, place and field, she has trouble extending this attitude toward the Island inhabitants and Catherine herself. She understood that "Poverty did not discriminate between good and bad, clean and dirty, caring and uncaring, or intelligent and stupid. It only changed things like having a roof over your head or not, having enough to eat each day or not." (179) Watching Louisa's growth and Catherine's accomplishment is very satisfying reading and heartening ending.

[Mapleleaf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louisa loses her brother Harry and is summoned to Thursday Island to take care of her niece Catherine whose mother died when she was younger. Growing up, Catherine was looked after by the house help Florence whose own son Michael was taken away from her. Luckily, Harry had enough clout as a doctor and influential friends to bring Michael back. Both Catherine and Michael loved swimming and became pseudo-siblings. Louisa had a successful clinic which she ran with the help of Ruth. Catherine's new life included school which did not understand nor accommodated her interests. Goaded with a dare by a classmate, Catherine swam a treacherous part of a river. She was expelled by the school. Her swim, however, was witnessed by a newsprint owner Lear Black who persistent on sponsoring Catherine as the first woman to swim the English Channel - at least 48 hours of continuous swimming. Louisa, at first, would not allow her to go until Mr. Black convinced her that he would protect her always. Soon, Catherine flew to America to join a women's swim team which had its own favourites for the Channel dream. After overcoming many hurdles, Catherine finally had a chance to swim the Channel. She was within a few minutes more of swimming when her friend Michael, whom she had not seen since leaving Thursday Island, swam to join her. Among the rules of completing the English Channel swim was not to be touched by anyone. Upon seeing each other, they hugged in greeting. Catherine lost the title. The story seems unremarkable until you note that the story happens during the early 1920's when commercial flying and equal rights were in its infancy.
The tone of the novel did not really highlight the climax of whether Catherine would be the first woman to swim the English Channel. It was remarkable, though, to hear more of the challenges that women had endured during that time. Not recommended.

[Ashley Brummett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has all of my favorite things: it's historical fiction; it takes place in the Twenties; and it features strong female characters. What's not to like? Well, I will say it took me a bit of time to get into, but I read that observation in several other reviews. The turning point for me, I think, was when they finally stopped going back and forth in time and just stayed in the present. Sometimes I can appreciate flashbacks for the handy narrative tool they are, but these just seemed to jar me, and so then I'd have a difficult time settling back into the present just when the past had started to grab me. It was super interesting learning the history of female swimmers, an activity that is so natural to me and that I know I (and many others) take for granted. I didn't know it wasn't until the twentieth century that women could partake in Olympic swimming, or the lengths one had to go to even be part of a "swim team." When Catherine went to New York to train...that's when I really became engaged in the story. As I've said in my last couple of reviews, though, the characters didn't quite feel multi-faceted, and that's where I tend to struggle. The story was a bit predictable, too...I was not surprised to discover that ____ was Catherine's mother all along. Who knows, maybe we weren't supposed to be surprised. MacColl left enough breadcrumbs for me to figure it out well before the big reveal. All in all, I would say this book is worth reading, but with so many great books and authors out there now, I can't say I'll be rushing to read her others. Thanks to Penguin's First to Read program for the ARC!

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louisa is a woman whose family supported her decision to become a doctor in the UK in the early 20th Century. He relationship with her brothers has been cool but when he dies working as a doctor on a remote Australian Island, she ends up with his15 year old daughter. Louisa doesn’t have much experience with children but had a miscarriage as a young unmarried woman. This causes her to want a child kind of, but also be wary of having one. Catherine the girl, didn’t receive much of an education, ruling out Louisa’s idea that Catherine become a doctor too, but she has learned to swim, something British women do not do. British women at the time were required to wear head to toe bathing attire which were heavy when wet and could drown a woman. Catherine has a bathing suit from Australia and knows that women from America wear the suits too and won the Olympics the year before. She wants to enter the Olympics too. She dreams up a stunt in which she swims across the Thames. The stunt gets her kicked out of school which was frustrated before and forces Louisa to realize that Catherine wasn’t going to be a scholar but needed to be a swimmer. A multimillionaire from the USA sponsors Catherine and arranged for her to train in America. The next goal is swimming across the English Channel, can Catherine do it?

[VICTORIA VAN VLEAR · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a delightful little book. It was thoughtful, with good themes and deep characters. The multiple POVs worked well here, and the interactions between Louisa and Catherine were realistic and engaging.

One aspect I really enjoyed was the feminism—but not in the usual way of feminism. Louisa was a true feminist, fighting for the rights of women, but Catherine provided a nice contrast because she didn't care all that much about feminism—she just cared about the joy of the activity of swimming. I appreciate that balance because while I (as a woman) obviously care about the rights of women, I don't consider myself a hard-core feminist, and I don't usually like books where feminism is the only major theme.

Despite all its good points, I struggled to read this book. Part of this might have been the other things I have going on in life right now, and part of it was that the plot developed a little slowly for me. I would have enjoyed the book more if there had been more plot to it in the middle of the book. But overall, I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it to friends.