In advance of her new book ‘The Road to Urbino’ read Roma Tearne’s breathtaking novel ‘The Swimmer’. A gripping, captivating tale of love, loss and what home really means.

Forty-three year old Ria is used to being alone. As a child, her life changed forever with the death of her beloved father and since then, she has struggled to find love.That is, until she discovers the swimmer.

Ben is a young illegal immigrant from Sri Lanka who has arrived in Norfolk via Moscow. Awaiting a decision from the Home Office on his asylum application, he is discovered by Ria as he takes a daily swim in the river close to her house. He is twenty years her junior and theirs is an unconventional but deeply moving romance, defying both boundaries and cultures – and the xenophobic residents of Orford. That is, until tragedy occurs.

Reviews

‘A tender, unconventional love story unfolds, until tragedy intervenes…Tearne’s descriptions of the wide Suffolk skies are breathtaking; she has a wonderful ability to create atmosphere’ The Times

‘Broodingly atmospheric…Roma Tearne is one of those writers who manage to interweave the political and personal to tremendous effect…Tearne captures a shifting social and political landscape and questions notions of home and homeland…[she] draws her characters with an artist’s precision… her extraordinary book offers a rare insight into the subtle and dramatic ways we are shaped by conflict, and how our personal lives can be overtaken by political forces’ Independent

‘Topical themes such as the war on terror and the treatment of asylum seekers are cleverly presented against a background of love, grief and guilt; all this is drawn together by a theme of belonging…this is beautifully atmospheric writing, deeply moving and thought-provoking’ Books Quarterly (Waterstones)

‘A lyrical tale of love and loss’ Country and Town House

‘[A] moving tale of forbidden love’ Bella