Kiss the Undertow - by Marie-Hélène Larochelle (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The water slurps my shoulders, torso, and back in a big, wet kiss, bending my image into an ironic clone of the truth. I bow to its dominance and let it break me open. The water alone will have me.

Watched obsessively by her guru-like coach, a nameless swimmer battles the element of water in a gruelling physical regimen. Outside of training, she floats loose in waters murky, salty, and chlorinated, engaging in aimless self-destruction, restraint looming just beyond her drifting hand. Incrementally, swimming is killing her; the pool is killing her. Hovering always nearby is a prickly vulture, waiting to feed on the swimmer's remains ...

Intense and immersive, Kiss the Undertow is a psychologically gripping account of endurance pushed to extremes.

Review Quotes

"Immersing the reader in a world where these horrors seem unrelenting, Kiss the Undertow delivers an unsettling and unflinching look at the complex reality of abuse and psychological control." -- West Trade Review

"Written in rhythmic prose that engages all the senses through thick description, Kiss the Undertow is as unrelenting as the narrator's training ... For fans of dark, atmospheric literature with a focus on difficult characters, Marie-Hélène Larochelle and Michelle Winters offer Anglophone readers a gripping novel in translation." -- Miramichi Reader