Why we love it:
The Lost Swimmer is a smartly constructed, tense thriller that will leave you guessing until the very end. It’s a remarkable debut from former filmmaker Ann Turner, who’s destined to become a prominent name in Australian writing.
Rebecca Wilding is an archaeology professor accused of defrauding the university where she works. Things at home with her husband Stephen are not as smooth as they used to be, either. Could he be having an affair with Rebecca’s demanding boss and why is Stephen so secretive? Despite these tensions, a trip away to Italy and Greece might just be what’s needed to put everything into perspective, and rekindle some of the passion that only briefly resurfaces in her marriage.
While travelling, Rebecca investigates the fraud herself but getting to the truth is not as easy as she assumed and when her husband goes missing off the Amalfi Coast everything she understands of her life comes under question.
Ann Turner’s characters are perfectly formed, her suspenseful plot is masterfully woven and her depiction of a variety of locations – the coast of Victoria, Greece, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast in particular – deftly transport the reader. We almost feel we are present with the characters, as the breathtaking scenery and confounding mysteries reveal themselves.
Having already written her next book, Out of the Ice, Ann Turner is an author we’ll thoroughly enjoy reading for years to come.
Thank you for being a voice zapatas of reason and intelligence in a noisy world.