The Swimmers

A burning intimate story about mothers and daughters, unity and estrangement—and the light at the end of the tunnel.

People of different ages, genders, and social circles go to the pool. On the lanes, they find a sense of community, comfort, and meaning. But when a crack appears at the bottom, everything changes. Without a daily meditative routine, Alice gradually loses touch with reality. Like water draining out of the pool, her memories seep away into nowhere. And Alice’s daughter feels how her mother, inevitably slipping from her, is actually growing closer—as a crack that has lasted for years disappears between them.

Written in a haunting elegiac style, the novel encourages acceptance of the natural course of things and asserts that everything happening in the world is reasonable—there is a piercing and transforming beauty in everything.