Book of the Month–July 2013 |

Swimming Home
By: Deborah Levy

In this short novel, poet Joe Jacobs expects a peaceful vacation with his family and another couple in the south of France but when they arrive at their rented villa, they find a body in the swimming pool. The young woman, Kitty Finch is alive and an obsessive fan of Joe’s writing. An aspiring poet, she has followed him to his destination in hopes that he will read one of her poems. Joe’s wife Isabel invites the young woman to stay with them at the villa. Isabel is a foreign correspondent whose career takes her away from the family. Although she has grown used to Joe’s infidelities, their marriage is strained and Kitty is “a bolt of sexual methamphetamine”.

Also available as:
eBook (Anansi Press)
eBook (And Other Stories Publishing)

Read an excerpt

Acknowledgements and Awards
2012: Man Booker Prize (finalist)
2013: Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize (finalist)

Book Reviews
The Guardian

Los Angeles Review of Books

About the Author

Deborah Levy was born in South Africa in 1959. Her father, Norman Levy was an academic and historian. He was also a member of the banned African National Congress and spent several years as a political prisoner when Deborah was young. Following his release from prison in 1968, the family relocated to England settling in Wembly Park living above the tailor shop where both Norman and his wife Phillippa were employed. Deborah studied theatre at the Dartington College of Arts, leaving in 1981 to concentrate on writing. In addition to novels, she has written plays and poetry.