''Swimming Home'' is a novel by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

writer

Deborah Levy Deborah Levy (born 6 August 1959) is a British novelist, playwright and poet. She initially concentrated on writing for the theatre – her plays were staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company – before focusing on prose fiction. Her early nov ...

, published in 2011. The short novel deals with the experiences of poet Joe Jacobs, when his family vacation is interrupted by a fanatical reader. Critical reception for the novel was generally favourable. On 25 July 2012 the book was longlisted for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

, and on 11 September that year it was shortlisted. It was shortlisted for the

Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize The Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize is an annual British literary prize inaugurated in 1977. It is named after the host ''Jewish Quarterly'' and the prize's founder Harold Hyam Wingate. The award recognises Jewish and non-Jewish writers r ...

(2013).Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize 2013

Plot

In the summer of 1994 the poet Joe Jacobs (Polish émigré Jozef Nowogrodzki) is on vacation in a summer home in the south of France with his wife Isabel, his daughter Nina, and their friends, the couple Mitchell and Laura. The tranquillity is ruined when Joe's fan Kitty Finch turns up. Her fascination with, and sexual attraction to Joe are obvious, but Isabel invites her to stay anyway. Isabel is a

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

whose work has repeatedly taken her away from her family, and who has grown to tolerate Joe's constant infidelities. Meanwhile, Kitty's mental problems become more and more obvious, yet Nina is the only one who dares to address the issue. Towards the end it seems clear that Kitty is poised to kill herself. In the end, however, it is actually Joe who kills himself. As it turns out, Kitty's mental issues were just a reflection of his much more deep-founded depression. The story ends with a current-day confessional from the now adult Nina to her late father.

Critical reception

Critical reception of ''Swimming Home'' was generally positive. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'''s John Self found the central characters of the novel "perfectly presented", and also noted that it "has repeated passages which gradually mesmerise the reader."

Philip Womack Philip Womack (born in 1981) is a British writer and journalist. Womack married Princess Tatiana von Preussen in 2014. Education Womack was educated aDorset House Preparatory School Lancing College, BPP Law School, and read Classics and English ...

of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' claimed that " yone who's been on a villa holiday will recognise the tensions that permeate Levy's stealthily devastating book." He lauded the "hallucinatory quality" of the book, concluding that " erything has significance...This is an intelligent, pulsating literary beast."

Julia Pascal Julia Pascal is a British playwright and theatre director. Biography A Jewish atheist, Pascal's stage plays include three grouped together as ''The Holocaust Trilogy''. The first of these is ''Theresa'', based on historical accounts of a Jewish w ...

, reviewing the novel for ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', describes the author's storytelling as "allusive, elliptical and disturbing." In particular she appreciates how Levy "upends expectation", turning the novel into "a haunting exploration of loss and longing."

References

External links

''Swimming Home''
on publisher's official website.
''Swimming Home''
on the

's official website. 2011 British novels Novels set in France {{2010s-novel-stub