Celebrating the paperback release of The Drownings by Hazel Barkworth - publication date 10th April 2025, published by Headline Review | £10.99 | Paperback.
'From the critically acclaimed author of Heatstroke, The Drownings is a captivating and intoxicatingly atmospheric novel about competition, obsession and influence; about female rage, and how the darkness of the unconfronted past continues to haunt our present.'
About the Author
Hazel grew up in Stirlingshire and North Yorkshire before studying English at Oxford. She is a graduate of both the Oxford University MSt in Creative Writing and the Curtis Brown Creative Novel-Writing course. Hazel works as a cultural consultant, delving into the cultural topics and conversations with most pertinence. This fascination sparked the themes explored in both of her novels. Her debut novel Heatstroke was a Cosmopolitan Best Book of the Summer in 2020. The Drownings was written back in the streets of her own university days, where the ghosts of her student self were lurking around every corner. She now lives in York with her partner.
About the book
University wasn’t in the plan. But when a catastrophic knee injury destroys Serena’s future as an Olympic swimmer, the years of brutal training and spellbinding manifestation lead her to Leysham, a dark and gloomy university campus in the north.
Walking home at night, Serena stumbles on a young woman floundering in the viscous and freezing waters that snake through the campus. Helped by a mysterious older woman, they drag the student from the water to safety.
Attending an enthralling lecture shortly after, Serena instantly recognises the woman speaking. It is Jane – the woman who helped Serena save a life. And as Jane speaks, Serena’s eyes are opened to the history of witch trials, misogyny and murder that lives in Leysham’s waters, and continues to infect the present day, with drink spiking and sexual assaults rife on campus.
Captivated by the older woman, Serena and her cousin Zara, a rising star of social media, launch a campaign to force the university to confront the misogyny and violence which haunts Leysham. But as protests flare across the campus, a simmering rivalry takes hold between the cousins. And when cracks start to appear in Jane’s motives, everything spirals out of control…
Review
I'm not even sure whether any screen version could do this the justice it deserves. It would take a simultaneous narration throughout to capture the way Serena interacts with her inner thoughts and self. The constant exploration of past, present and future, the way the doubtful introvert blossoms into the uncontrollable extrovert who is set alight by imagined transgressions.
However, the most powerful connection and conversation is the one Serena has with water. It's almost a compulsion and intrinsically linked to her failure, her success, her drive and power. The first chapters highlight this overwhelming obsession with bodies of water - no matter how large and in what setting.
Alongside this larger than life character, who is for all intent and purposes, the wallflower and the quiet observer; is Zara. Zara is the complete opposite and also the cousin who wants to stand in the spotlight and be heralded as voice of change.
Set to a background of a long line of past transgressions against women, which emboldens the present population of young men to view women in their vicinity as prey. The two young women become enmeshed in a rebellion of sorts, a fierce stand against misogyny and the patriarchal systems that protect the predators - always.
I really enjoyed this, perhaps because the author has the ability to write with a flair of lyrical prose then flip to social interactions and scenes that have a more abrupt and intense style. It makes the reader wonder whether Serena is on the precipice of something, a cliff or a realisation, then again it could simply be a discovery and regaining of self. Loved it! It's a brilliant read.
Buy The Drownings at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Headline Review - pub date 10th April 2025 | £10.99 | Paperback. Buy via Bookshop.org
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