The Union of Synchronised Swimmers
Translated by Cristina Sandu
Overview
It’s summer behind the Iron Curtain, and six girls are about to swim their way to the Olympics — and a new life.
In an unnamed Soviet state, six girls meet each day to swim. At first, they play, splashing each other and floating languidly on the water’s surface. But soon the game becomes something more.
They hone their bodies relentlessly. Their skin shades into bruises. They barter cigarettes stolen from the factory where they work for swimsuits to stretch over their sunburnt skin. They tear their legs into splits, flick them back and forth, like herons. They force themselves to stop breathing.
When they find themselves representing their country as synchronised swimmers in the Olympics, they seize the chance they have been waiting for to escape and begin new lives.
Scattered around the globe, six women live in freedom. But will they ever be able to forget what they left behind?
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Rights held
- Other rights
- Paperback
- 198mm x 129mm
- 112 pages
- 9781922310163
- AUD$24.99
- 1 June 2021
- World English (ex. Can)
- R&B Licensing
Categories
Awards
- Winner of the 2020 Toisinkoinen Literary Prize
- Shortlisted for the 2022 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize
Praise
‘Sandu’s novel strikes home. This is a timely and lyrical musing on the troubles waiting across the border: racism and xenophobia, the gendered nature of independent life, and the unexpected loneliness of no longer speaking in one’s mother tongue.’
‘Intricate and intimate … Cristina Sandu’s talent with words can dazzle the reader, with still the capacity to leave so much unsaid … The writing is as graceful as movements in the river they so elegantly swim in … a small, punchy almost pocket-sized literary work of art.’
About the Author
Cristina Sandu was born in 1989 in Helsinki to a Finnish-Romanian family who loved books. She studied literature at the University of Helsinki and the University of Edinburgh, and speaks six languages. She currently lives in the UK and works as a full-time writer. Her debut novel, The Whale Called Goliath (2017), was nominated for the Finlandia Prize. The Union of Synchronised Swimmers won the Toisinkoinen Literary Prize and will be her first book to be published in English.
Translator
Cristina Sandu was born in 1989 in Helsinki to a Finnish-Romanian family who loved books. She studied literature at the University of Helsinki and the University of Edinburgh, and speaks six languages. She currently lives in the UK and works as a full-time writer. Her debut novel, The Whale Called Goliath (2017), was nominated for the Finlandia Prize. The Union of Synchronised Swimmers won the Toisinkoinen Literary Prize and will be her first book to be published in English.
