cover image Swimming the Channel: A Widow's Journey to Life

Swimming the Channel: A Widow's Journey to Life

Sally Friedman. Farrar Straus Giroux, $22 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-374-27230-2

At 34, Friedman--a freelance theatrical scene designer who had been both a competitive and a recreational swimmer since childhood--decided to swim the English Channel. She trained with daily, strenuous workouts in city pools, in upstate New York lakes, in the coastal waters of Long Island and wherever travels took her. She tested her long-distance stamina by swimming the circumference of Manhattan Island. On long swims, her husband, Paul, a theatrical consultant, was a supportive presence who followed her in a boat, monitoring her safety and endurance. Just when she felt ready to take on the channel, Paul was killed in a car accident, and the shock and grief destroyed the author's channel-swimming plans. The focus of the remaining half of her book is on the details of her irremediable sense of loss. She describes the memorial service; the handful of Paul's ashes she saved; the unwashed shirt of his she treasures because it retains his scent; the remembered endearments, conversations, and places they visited; her travels abroad, to Cape Cod and elsewhere, vainly seeking solace even work and swimming did not give her. But, unredeemed by notable stylistic grace or outstanding characterizations, this becomes a litany of private sorrows that readers may find difficult to share. (Sept.)