About Swim Back to Me

“I skim the vinyl like a catfish, my body brushing the ground. Only here does the silent weight of water drown out the thoughts. When I can’t hold my breath anymore, I ascend.

Breathless but more settled, I float and stare up at the sky, then close my eyes and let the sun beat down on my lids.

If I can just stay here like this, suspended, floating, maybe the water will lull me back to sleep.”

By all appearances, forty-something Norah Merrill has a perfect family life in the quiet suburbs of Long Island. Beneath the surface, however, discontent brews. Spurred on by her witness of her best friend’s newfound marital freedom, as well as her own daughter’s burgeoning sexuality, Norah embarks down a slippery path.

As 15-yr old Cassie immerses herself in the excitement of first love, Norah cautions herself to be vigilant: “I am the mother, the role model; the tour guide, not the traveler.” But, when her son, Henry, is drafted by a new fall coach, what begins as a harmless exchange of flirtatious emails quickly escalates into a lustful, exhilarating affair of words. And when words turn to action, Norah gets lost in the thrill of being the traveler once again.

With intimate, honest prose, Swim Back to Me follows one woman’s quest to find passion and excitement – to remain a traveler in her life – without destroying those who need her, in the wake. It is a brave portrayal of the unique and often precarious relationship between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, and of what it means to be a woman and wife in a world where individual desires have changed, yet expected roles remain the same.