The Swimmer by Roma Tearne (From Hereford Times)

The Swimmer by Roma Tearne

10:17am Thursday 16th June 2011 in Book Group

Our June book selection is The Swimmer by Roma Tearne, a novel that opens in a sun-drenched Suffolk summer.

RIA is a 43-year old poet living in self-imposed exile in Suffolk, estranged from the brother who is her only family and attempting to come to terms with her childlessness.

She is used to being alone, resigned to it even. But then she sees a man swimming in the river at the bottom of her garden and life changes.

In a novel that seeks out the personal in the political, the swimmer of the title is Ben, a young illegal immigrant from Sri Lanka who is waiting for a decision from the Home Office on his application for asylum.

When Ria is looking the other way, Ben sneaks into her house, taking food and playing her piano and before long he has also stolen into her life, her bed and her heart.

But Ria’s solitary existence has left her ignorant of the tensions swirling through the local community and tragedy is about to blow her life apart, and she won’t be the only person affected.

The Swimmer is about love and loss, the loss of a lover, a son and, in the final section, the loss of a mother. With a deftly created sense of place and a lyrical tenderness, The Swimmer is a great summer read.

About the author

ROMA Tearne was born in Sri Lanka and arrived in England with her parents in 1964, when she was ten.

She trained as a painter, completing her MA at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford.

For nearly 20 years her work as a painter, installation artist and filmmaker has dealt with the traces of history and memory within public and private spaces. In 2002, she became a Leverhulme resident artist at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, and is now a fellow at Oxford Brookes University.

Her first novel, Mosquito, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Kiriyama Prize.

It was while working at the Ashmolean and as a response to public interest that she began to write. The Swimmer is her fourth novel and was longlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize. She is married with three children and lives in Oxford.

How to order

GET The Swimmer at the offer price of £7.59, post and packing free.

To order, call the Hereford Times Bookshop on 08430 6000399 or send your cheque or postal order made payable to Hereford Times Bookshop to: Hereford Times Bookshop, PO Box 60, Helston TR13 0TP.

Allow seven to 10 working days for delivery. Titles are supplied subject to availability. Alternatively, order online at sparkledirect.com.