Swimming Home

From the bestselling author of In Falling Snow, a historical novel about a woman aspiring to be the first woman to swim the English Channel.

London 1925: Newly orphaned, young Catherine Quick is shipped across the ocean to live with her Aunt Louisa. All Catherine wants is to return home to the Torres Strait lslands in Australia and swim, just as she’s done since childhood. But at fifteen, Catherine is no longer a child, at least according to Aunt Louisa, who plans to ensure her niece gets the kind of solid education a woman needs to make her way in life.

Louisa Quick should know. A London surgeon who triumphed over adversity to find her own place, Louisa’s duty is to protect Catherine from an unsafe world. When Catherine rebels by daring to swim across the Thames, the feat earns Catherine an expulsion from school and the admiration of the press. The notoriety attracts eccentric American banker Manfred Lear Black, who convinces Louisa that Catherine should come to the states to train to swim the English Channel—a feat that no woman has yet accomplished. It’s a journey that will change everything for Catherine and Louisa, as both women discover what it truly means to follow one’s heart.

Praise for In Falling Snow:

“A tale of selflessness and youthful indiscretion as singular and seductive as one could hope for.” —Robin Oliveira, New York Times–bestselling author of My Name Is Mary Sutter

“MacColl [has an] innate ability to create a powerful bond between readers and characters.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Satisfying. . . . Women as healers, family secrets, medical mysteries, historical setting—call the producers of Call the Midwife.” —Booklist