The question didn't seem to be so much why we swim, as where and how we swim, and with whom. Also, where we fail to swim, water threatening to flood our lungs or the lungs of others, as well as where we rise and float. Ingrid Horrocks had few aspirations to swimming mastery, but she had always loved being in the water. She set out on a solo swimming journey, then abandoned it for a different kind of immersion altogether – one which led her to more deeply examine relationships, our ecological crisis, and responsibilities to those around us. Where We Swim ranges from solitary swims in polluted rivers in Aotearoa New Zealand, to dips in pools in Arizona and the Peruvian Amazon, and in the ocean off Western Australia and the south coast of England. Part memoir, part travel and nature writing, this generous and absorbing book is about being a daughter, sister, partner, mother, and above all a human being living among other animals on this watery planet.
"'Entering the deep waters of Where We Swim is to become completely immersed in the interconnectedness of life. The words in these pages are at once intimate and all encompassing, grimly funny and heart-wrenching, human and nonhuman, global and everyday. There is a breathlessness to these meditations - just when we think we might drown in one of the stunning revelations that seed this work, Horrocks is there showing us how to swim. This is a book for our times: to be read immediately, and again and again, as Horrocks helps us to come to terms with the new now.'"
Laura Jean McKay, author of The Animals in that Country
"'Where We Swim captures the sense of uncertainty any swimmer feels when they step into unknown waters and Ingrid Horrocks' words carry us on a powerful current - sometimes gentle, sometimes urgent - of concern for our planet and joy at its beauty.'"
Sophie Cunningham, author of City of Trees
"'Graceful and rhythmic, Where We Swim is an immersion in the waters of home and far away.'"
