Swimming in the Dark

LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE 2021A Guardian Book of the Year‘The highest talent at work’ Sebastian Barry‘Beautiful … A masterpiece’ Attitude Poland, 1980. Shy, anxious Ludwik has been sent along with the rest of his university class to an agricultural camp. Here he meets Janusz – and together they spend a dreamlike summer falling in love. But with summer over, the two are sent back to Warsaw. Confronted by the scrutiny, intolerance and corruption of life under the Party, Ludwik and Janusz must decide how they will survive; and in their different choices, find themselves torn apart.‘An affecting and unusual romance’ Observer‘A new classic’ Evening Standard ‘A beautiful novel, and at its heart an amazing love story’ BBC Radio 4 Open Book, Editor’s Pick ‘Jedrowski is an authentic new international star’ Edmund White ‘A remarkable, beautiful tale, utterly new and entirely credible ... This book radiates sensuality, humour, and human truths’ Literary Review

Marvellous, precise, poignant writing; the reader is happy to be overwhelmed. The highest talent at work, An enthralling debut, A remarkable, beautiful tale ... Utterly new and entirely credible ... This book radiates sensuality, humour, and human truths … Swimming in the Dark is sensual and immersive, and Ludwik’s sentimental education is so well described that the reader is left wanting more. You won’t want to miss it, Elegant, compelling and full of melancholy beauty ... I will keep it on my shelves alongside novels by Alan Hollinghurst, Edmund White and other classics in the gay canon, One of the most astonishing contemporary gay novels we have ever read … extraordinarily beautiful, enrapturing and poignant … Erotic, mesmeric, heart-rending and brutal, this is a masterpiece

Tomasz Jedrowski was born in West Germany to Polish parents and studied law at Cambridge and the Université de Paris. He speaks five languages and currently lives in France. Swimming in the Dark is his first novel.