The Tidal Year

Author Freya Bromley
Narrator Freya Bromley
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Run Time 9 hours and 22 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Biography and non-fiction prose, Memoirs, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Sports and Active outdoor recreation, Swimming.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

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 Trinkie Wick 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.

(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critics Review

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

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