Swimming Home

1925. Fifteen-year-old Catherine Quick longs to strike out into the warm waters of her Australian home just as she's done since she was a tiny child. But now living in London with her aunt Louisa, Catherine feels that everything she values has been stripped away. Louisa, a busy surgeon who fought boldly for women's equality, wants Catherine to pursue an education to ensure her future freedom. Since Catherine arrived, however, Louisa can't put a foot right and she is finding it harder to block painful memories from her past. A chance encounter leads both women to New York where Catherine can test her mettle against the first women in the world to swim the English Channel, and where Louisa can come to an understanding with her niece and with herself.

Mary-Rose MacColl is an Australian writer who worked as a journalist, nursing assistant, photocopier operator and corporate writer while studying towards degrees in journalism and creative writing. She is the author of four other novels and a non-fiction book, as well as short stories, feature journalism and essays.