The Swimmer

As much a biography of a generation as of an individual … Barkham conjures the life of the wild swimming champion and author of Waterlog in a bravura act of creative memoir … a rich, strange and compelling work of creative memoir that beautifully honours and elevates the life and work of its subject – Alex Preston * Observer *[A] remarkable book, an extraordinary insight … The Swimmer is an unconventional biography of an unconventional person … A tapestry-like life of the influential nature writer – Amy-Jane Beer * Guardian *Barkham honours Deakin’s protean nature by collaging together often wildly contradictory testimonies from friends, colleagues and lovers. It manages, as few biographies do, to convey how impossible a person is to pin down, perhaps especially once as mercurial as Deakin * New Statesman, ‘Books of the Year’ *Barkham’s book succeeds in evoking a fascinating, creative, complicated man * Times Literary Supplement *Reading Patrick Barkham’s brilliant biography of this fascinating man, I felt both that I was meeting again the Roger Deakin I knew - and also encountering a Roger I never met … The narrative form Patrick has chosen allows Roger’s own voice to sing through and with Patrick’s - and also introduces us to a chorus of voices, memories and perspectives of those who knew Roger over the course of his wild and various life * Robert Macfarlane *The Swimmer is biography at its most inventive, mixing Deakin’s own writings with friends’ memories and improvisational add-ons to celebrate a bold and surprising life – Blake Morrison * Observer *Vivid … a magical kind of post-mortem autobiography … The Swimmer is a wonderful testament to a unique and very charming man * Daily Mail *Deakin has become the unofficial patron saint of wild swimmers … Barkham mines Deakin’s notebooks and interviews his family, friends and lovers to create this beautifully immersive biography * Financial Times, ‘What to Read this Summer’ *Deakin was an extraordinary man in an extraordinary moment * Times *A long-awaited biography of the late, great writer, environmentalist and moat-dipper … This is a mightily accomplished biography … a skilful piece of theatre – Sue Brooks * Caught by the River *

Patrick Barkham is an award-winning author and natural history writer for the Guardian. His books include The Butterfly Isles, Badgerlands, Islander and Wild Child. He is President of Norfolk Wildlife Trust and lives in Norfolk with his family.