The disturbing story of a swimmer navigating the abuse of her body and mind as she trains for a competition, exploring the nature of power and will.
Intense and immersive, Kissing the Undertow is a psychologically gripping novel where an unnamed protagonist floats loose in waters of all varieties, murky and chlorinated, with self-control looming just beyond her drifting hand. Watched obsessively by her guru-like coach, the nameless swimmer, a university student in Toronto, battles the element of water in a grueling physical regimen to earn a place in a tournament in Bordeaux. Along with her teammates, the swimmer engages in aimless self-destructive behaviour with a seeming indifference to consequences. Incrementally, swimming is killing her; the pool is killing her. Hovering always nearby is a bald, prickly vulture, waiting to feed on the swimmer's remains.
In a terrible accident in France, her closest friend drowns. She tries to return to swimming but sees her friend at the bottom of every pool. Yet at the end of her dark and damaging haze, the swimmer finally walks out on the absurd demands of her coach to find herself barefoot on broken glass in downtown Toronto but free.
