Swimming Home Audiobook By Deborah Levy, Tom McCarthy - introduction cover art

Swimming Home

A Novel

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Swimming Home

By: Deborah Levy, Tom McCarthy - introduction
Narrated by: Nicola Barber
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Short-listed for the 2012 Man Booker Prize.

As he arrives with his family at the villa in the hills above Nice, Joe sees a body in the swimming pool. But the girl is very much alive. She is Kitty Finch: a self-proclaimed botanist with green-painted fingernails, walking naked out of the water and into the heart of their holiday. Why is she there? What does she want from them all? And why does Joe's enigmatic wife allow her to remain? A subversively brilliant study of love, Swimming Home reveals how the most devastating secrets are the ones we keep from ourselves.

©2011 Deborah Levy (P)2014 Audible Inc. Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Fiction

Critic reviews

"Readers will have to resist the temptation to hurry up in order to find out what happens.... Our reward is the enjoyable, if unsettling, experience of being pitched into the deep waters of Levy’s wry, accomplished novel." (Francine Prose, New York Times Book Review)
"Narrator Nicola Barber's performance reflects the tension between the characters. Even before listeners know what the story is about, Barber's portrayals suggest that something is very wrong here…. [The characters are] all upper-crust English, and so, appropriately, is Barber's accent. Her sophisticated, subtle performance is highly suitable to this short, unsettling novel." (AudioFile)
All stars
Most relevant  
The reader’s accent is annoying . It detracts from the story itself . I love Rachel Levys writing and her stories

Author’s brilliance

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Who was your favorite character and why?

None of the characters were very likable, but maybe Nina.

Which character – as performed by Nicola Barber – was your favorite?

Nina.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really!

Any additional comments?

A different kind of story. A bit deep and also sad, but interesting characters.

Interesting and different

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While this novel might not be for everyone, it is a treasure for those readers with a Shirley Jackson sort of sensibility. People are odd, circumstances are bizarre, and behavior unpredictable. Absolutely wonderful.

Gripping

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