The Sunday Times SPORT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017
Jenny Landreth is a script editor and writer. She has written two guide books – on the great trees of London, and on the best places to swim in the capital. Jenny was the main contributor to the Guardian’s weekly swimming blog, writing on everything from pool rules, to swimming with children, and where to swim in New York. She lives in London. @jennylandreth
Jenny Landreth’s tale of the swimming suffragettes is a wonderful
account of lost stories from the canon of women’s sports history…
Landreth’s book brings these stories to the mainstream
*Anna Kessel*
Fascinating and full of possibility, it is also properly
snort-with-giggles-on-the-commute funny.
*Alexandra Heminsley*
If you love swimming you’ll love this. If you hate swimming, you’ll
still love this. From over-upholstered matrons gingerly climbing
down the steps of wheeled bathing huts, to young girls swimming
jawdropping distances up The Thames, this captivating book bowls
along with wit and charm.
*Jo Brand*
A brilliantly funny book that made me feel part of a proud and
intrepid community of amphibian women
*Josie Long*
If this marvellous watery odyssey charting women’s swimming history
doesn’t make you want to jump in, I will eat my woollen bikini.
*Doon Mackichan*
A wry and inspiring mix of memoir and social history
*Melissa Harrison*
Very disappointed. I thought this was going to be a pictorial
history of the bikini.
*John O'Farrell*
Swell is part personal memoir, and part social history. Even if you
aren’t as wildly enthusiastic about swimming as the author, you’ll
find her book written with humour and fondness
*Lifeboat Magazine*
As we jump into the waves with glee, Jenny Landreth asks us to
consider 'swimming suffragettes' who kicked hard for change in the
once male-dominated world of swimming, less than 100 years ago.
Written through the prisms of memoir and social history, it's the
quest for equality that rises to the top of a poignant
narrative.
*Coast*
Billed as being the true story of the ‘swimming suffragettes’, this
book – both funny and informative – follows the fearless women who
battled for access to beaches, pools and lakes, and reveals the
author’s own ‘waterbiography’
*Townswoman*
Even if you’re not particularly interested in swimming, this book
will delight you.
*Daily Mail*
Swell has the air of one long stand-up routine, a larky dash
through the modern history of female swimmers
*New Statesman*
A clever, intimate history of personal and female liberation,
viewed through a well-fitting pair of swimming goggles ... Swell is
a standout addition to a crowded pool of waterlogged memoirs.
*Kinamara.com*
Curl up with the empowering story of the heroines who made swimming
possible for women. Swell by Jenny Landreth is a must-read
*Women's Fitness*
A lighthearted, conversational history, with emphasis on the
challenges women once faced just getting in the water, and the
“swimming suffragettes” who defied genteel disapproval to claim the
right to do so
*Guardian*
Swell interweaves Landreth’s own story with a history of female
pioneers, “Swimming Suffragettes” who accomplished remarkable feats
and paved the way for future generations … She is at her best
writing about swimmers past, and has done a thorough job of
interviewing other swimmers
*Economist*
Whereas the idea of diving into a pool seems like a great way to
escape the heat, in the 19th century swimming was exclusively the
domain of men and it wasn't until the 1930s that women were granted
equal access to pools. Swell is the story of the women who made
that possible, capturing the achievements and world of women's
secret swimming.
*YAWN*
The fearless women known as “swimming suffragettes” are celebrated
in this wonderful book charting feminism and social history through
the 19th and early-20th centuries.
*Sunday Herald*
With examples of swimming heroines and some truly bizarre swimming
cossies plus the story of how the author learned to swim, Swell
will make you want to plunge straight in
*Red*
Jenny Landreth is a delight… Swell is more than just a recollection
of the author’s own encounters; it’s also a history of women’s
fight for the right to swim… read it and discover it all for
yourself
*thebookbag*
Jenny Landreth is a wonderful and hilarious writer, so this is in
no way a stuffy account of historic events. She includes her own
history of swimming, the 2012 Olympics, the developments in
swimwear and, in her own unique way, the psychology behind why we
swim
*Wanderlust*
Landreth's writing is accessible and down to earth, with wonderful
asides
*The Times Literary Supplement*
Recalls how swimming suffragettes made waves to gain the same
rights of access to water as men. It is full of witty asides from
Landreth, though she’s unlikely to rekindle the fashion for knitted
swimsuits.
*Daily Telegraph*
Jenny Landreth’s blissful Swell: A Waterbiography is about the
pleasures of swimming, for which women first had to fight for
pools, liberation from full-length serge bathing suits and other
imposed notions of what it was dignified for a lady to do. This is
an instructive history of a tide not simply turning, but being
forced to turn.
*The Times (Saturday review)*
The joy of her book is the spiky, mischievous writing that knits it
together.
*Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year 2017*
The Sunday Times Sport Book of the Year: Jenny Landreth’s passion
for swimming makes her the perfect flag bearer for this detailed
critique of the evolution of one of Britain’s favourite
pastimes.
*Daily Express*
A funny, well-written history of (mainly) British feminism as told
through swimming.
*FT top picks of 2017*
As funny as it is illuminating.
*Coach*
Giving fresh life to remarkable achievers such as Agnes Beckwith
and Mercedes Gleitze, it mixes warmth with anger and compels and
engages at the same time.
*Guardian*
Landreth’s passion for swimming makes her the perfect flag bearer
for this detailed critique of the evolution of one of Britain’s
favourite pastimes.
*Daily Express*
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