These Heavy Black Bones

In Kenya the pool was green and surrounded by concrete so hot it burnt the soles of her small feet. She didn't know any different. A decade later she would be double British Champion and the first Black woman ever to swim for Great Britain. But this story is not about making history. As her body and mind are sharpened through gruelling training, press scrutiny and the harshness of adolescence, Rebecca questions who she is swimming for and what the onward journey to the Olympics will cost her. A compulsive and unforgettable study of intensity, These Heavy Black Bones meditates on Blackness, identity and the ecstasy of peak physical performance. In stunning prose, Rebecca charts her career's ascent, her singular love of the water, and lays bare the pressures within her swimming world. 

'A love song to water and what it takes to self-liberate' LIDIA YUKNAVITCH 

'A feast in every way: for the intellect and the senses' CATHY RENTZENBRINK

 'Absolutely remarkable. There can't be many top athletes who are also top writers and so devastatingly honest' LYNN BARBER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR THE HATCHARDS AND BIOGRAPHERS' CLUB FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE