The Tidal Year

'Immersive and compelling. I read it in a single day! Everyone should take a plunge into this book.' CATHY RENTZENBRINK

'The Tidal Year is some of the best writing on wild swimming that I have encountered.' MARIANNE LEVY

Freya is still searching. For four years, she's been looking for a way to fill the empty space her brother's death left behind. Ready for another distraction, Freya decides to swim every tidal pool in Britain in a year with her friend Miri. The adventure takes them from a pool hidden in the cliffs of fishing-village Polperro to the quarry lagoon of Abereiddi via the Trinkie where locals meet each year to give the pool wall a fresh lick of paint.

As Freya travels further from London, she finds herself closer to memories of her brother. With every swim, and every stranger they meet in the water, the challenge becomes more than just a way to explore the coast, but a journey of self-discovery.

The Tidal Year is a true story about the healing power of wild swimming and the space it creates for reflection, rewilding, and hope. An exploration of grief in the modern age, it's also a tale of loss, love, female rage and sisterhood.

'Funny, sad and honest, but ultimately also hopeful, The Tidal Year is a wonderful and welcome addition to the growing canon of books exploring the restorative power of wild swimming.' SOPHIE PIERCE

Immersive and compelling. I read it in a single day! Everyone should take a plunge into this book -- Cathy Rentzenbrink
Funny, sad and honest, but ultimately also hopeful, The Tidal Year is a wonderful and welcome addition to the growing canon of books exploring the restorative power of wild swimming -- Sophie Pierce
Reads like a lusciously languid dream sequence... It's not just about how water can redeem us but how words can too. A powerful debut -- Christopher Beanland
Funny and moving, brimming with bracingly refreshing uncertainty and a salty refusal of resolution, it is a book to float away in -- Polly Atkin
A heart-rending depiction of a young woman growing through grief and the healing, restorative power of nature -- Nick Bradley
Bright and tender-hearted... candid and vulnerable -- Jessica J. Lee
A moving and memorable book... Her writing is contained, clear and as powerful as the changing tides she swims in. She is a talent to watch -- Raffaella Barker
Astonishing in its frankness, raw, poignant, bracing, funny; a very human story -- Derek Niemann, Guardian country diarist
The Tidal Year is some of the best writing on wild swimming that I have encountered -- Marianne Levy
A beautiful, brilliantly written book on grief, self-discovery and swimming. I loved following along on the tidal pool adventure and thought all the observations, of people and places, were so vividly captured. It's not every day you gobble up a 400+ page memoir in a matter of days -- Emma Gannon
Beautifully written Jersey Evening Post
A poignant, funny tribute to the complex, tidal nature of grief. The Tidal Year delivers inspirational waves of hope and renewal to its readers, demonstrating the restorative power of immersion in the natural world -- Jade Angeles Fitton, author of HERMIT
Freya Bromley's powerful memoir The Tidal Year is all about her love for wild swimming, and how she's used it to process her grief... I found myself blinking back tears Harper's Bazaar

Freya Bromley is a writer, wild swimmer and podcaster. She lives in London, just a short cycle from Brockwell Lido. On her podcast, The Tidal Year, Freya discovers the human stories behind why we swim. Every episode, she's joined by a new guest who shares what water means to them. Freya's currently studying on the Creative Writing Master of Studies at Cambridge University.

Twitter: @freyabromley

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.