by Victoria Bromley and Charlie Fabre
We’ve given you some movie recommendations based on our issue 07 theme, but now here are our book recommendations to unearth some ideas for any last minute submissions.
On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
Women are being pulled from the lake, drowned and naked, their bodies extracted from the murky water. Arc and Daffy are daughters of addiction and poverty. Just like their mother and aunt, they grow up into a life of prostitution, drug abuse and neglect. Their passions in life are buried deep because there is no money for swimming lessons or university, so how will Daffy ever be able to become an Olympic swimmer and Arc an archaeologist?
Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg
Where do women go to escape the life made for them by men? Iris joins a commune for lost women, a farm hidden away in the undergrowth of the Kent Downs. It’s a place where women feel safe and secure, are rewarded for their efforts, where they can simply just be. But when the power dynamics shift, it turns to chaos. Blood is spilt and when the truth comes out, all eyes are on them.
Iris wants to learn everything she can about these women and this place which soon becomes a cage. What can she take from this experience? How much of herself will be buried or set free?
I Who have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
A bunker of 40 women who escape into a barren landscape. No one is to be seen for miles.
One of the most evocative dystopian novels of its time, this novel is about the burial of women caged underground for years without seeing daylight and their freedom back to the surface. Their journey to find civilisation is treacherous and odious. Told from the perspective of the youngest girl from the bunker, she has never known the outside world and must learn all she can from these women.
Never Let me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Never Let me Go is a novel which pushes the boundaries of how far science can go. Kathy reflects on her time at Hailsham, a boarding school where she grew up under strict rules from the guardians. Made to produce art and stay healthy, she wonders what it’s all for. What she was made for?
The attempt to bury the truth from these children, and the life long journey they take to excavate the secrets of their existence makes this a perfect fit for issue 07.
Learning to Think by Tracy King
Tracy King writes about her life as a young girl growing up in poverty, uneducated and naïve. This memoir is one of discovery, acceptance and understanding as she documents the death of her father and the journey she took to uncover what happened that night her life was set ablaze.
Putting her faith in the Church, her anxiety was mistaken for evil and her body was exorcised to release the demon within. Being dragged through educational and religious systems, Tracy had to learn to be able to think for herself and come to terms with who she is and why her life has turned out the way it did.
Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley
Stricken with the grief of their dead son, and living by a barren and ‘cursed’ field – according to local legend – a young couple navigate their grief in different ways. One turns to a support group who offer occult services, and the other works to uncover the long buried oak tree in the cursed field, and the secrets it holds. Starve Acre is an eerie book, and definitely one for lovers of spooky vibes and autumn, but it is also a very moving portrait of loss and family.
The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto
This book follows Yayoi, a young adult who has recently uncovered truths about her family. She, along with her brother and aunt, must now navigate this truth as Yayoi uncovers memories of her happy family life and realises that something is amiss. In the fashion Japanese literature, The Premonition is slow and soft, and it comes to a quiet conclusion about identity and the self.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
When Camille is tasked with returning home to write about the horrible murders of two young girls, she must also deal with her overbearing mother, Adora, and her younger estranged half-sister, Amma. Sharp Objects is rich in haunting pasts and we follow Camille as her hometown visible affects her in more ways than one. Of note, is the uncovering of lies and truths to do with events in her childhood, and we also see how small towns choose to bury their ghosts instead of excavate them.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa
In a dystopian world where items are erased from existence and everyone’s collective memory at random, remembering these things is a danger. The Memory Police is a book that lovers of 1984 will adore as it covers many of the same themes, but in a completely different way. Our protagonist is one of the people that can remember the ‘erased memories’, and we see how they navigate their seemingly mundane life in this world that buries things for no reason.
Submissions for issue 07 close midnight 29th September. Read all our submission guidelines carefully.
swim press 