The Story of Swimming A Social History of Bathing in Britain, By Susie Parr, Dewi Lewis Media, £25

Contrary to its title, this book is about much more than just a history of swimming in Britain. Over the course of 180 illustrations, which include photographs, paintings, woodcuts, cartoons and postcards, the astonished reader comes to realize that part of their own personal history is being revealed: their relationship with water; their memories; that first toe in the water; their first fears or anxieties, their earliest excitement or pleasure. Susie Parr’s work stands apart because it enables the reader to swim through their own private thoughts. Parr sets the scene: slipping into an unlikely British lake; wading through an enchanted river or diving into the bright pool at the foot of an ancient stone bridge. The Story of Swimming is, first and foremost, a piece of poetry, which the author has illuminated with the richness and precision of a goldsmith.

Parr the historian examines sources in medieval and Elizabethan literature, relating how medicinal sea-bathing flourished in the 18th century (leading to the rise of elegant watering places such as Scarborough) and examining the role of bathing from the time of the Romantics up to the more recent ‘Wild Swimming’ movement. There is no question that Susie Parr and her husband, photographer Martin Parr – renowned for his views of the English coastline – have enjoyed their collaboration on this book: the images found here are a true showcase for the photographer. The book also explains and demonstrates the current vogue for ‘Wild Swimming’ – a movement now becoming extremely popular in Britain – that has inspired people to plunge headlong into river, lake and sea, in search of natural or challenging experiences. Susie Parr, herself a passionate outdoor swimmer, shares this enormously uplifting experience with the reader, told through the joyful faces and breathtaking landscapes in her book: with each page, she invites every reader to take the plunge into an authentic moment of peace, and breathe.

By J.-C. N.