Swimmer in the Secret Sea

by William Kotzwinkle

Book Overview

First published in Redbook in 1975 to enormous acclaim, this O. Henry Award winner sold 100,000 copies in paperback. Available for the first time in hardcover, Swimmer in the Secret Sea is the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811807150
• ISBN13: 9780811807159
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (CA)
• Length: 91 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.9" x 7.2"

Customer Reviews

Heartbreaking in its brevity

This tiny novella is a powerfully gut-wrenching story that honestly portrays the sorrow of stillbirth without any sugar coating. Worth seeking out by all but expectant parents (the subject matter would just be too painful to read).

to read and re-read

It must be 20 years ago that I first happened on this uncommonly good book and I still remember it vividly, and recommend it frequently. The simplest of stories: a much-awaited first child, a stillbirth, and the aftermath for the young parents, but the telling--poetic, haunting, near-perfect, one of the finest modern novellas of loss, grief and transcendance. Buy two--you'll want to give one to a friend.

The lonely ocean of Mr. Kotzwinkle...

This beautiful book is a lasting testament to the failed pregnancy of a simple and poetic couple. A thin book, but as profound as it is brief. It's the kind of book that makes you want to force it into a friend's hand and watch his/her face as they silently read it. I can't imagine a more moving account or a more glistening example of bravery than this.