Night Swimming (Sharon Kernot, Text)

Sharon Kernot’s first foray into adult fiction, Night Swimming, is both a suspenseful verse novel and a ghost story in which the narrator of the book haunts herself. Night Swimming is an exploration of the long-term effects and reverberations of trauma and centres on the hypnagogic movements of January Clare Colson, a 40-something woman still reeling from the mysterious death of her best friend, Julie, almost 30 years ago. When she encounters the man she believes to be responsible for Julie’s death, Colson hatches a plan to bring his crime to light, attempting along the way to absolve the sense of personal guilt, shame and shock she has carried ever since. Night Swimming begins strongly, with taut stanzas that retain a poet’s lightness of touch. Kernot’s choice of form feels fresh against the formulaic tendencies of the thriller genre. The novel does not shy away from the brutal realities of long-term grief and sexual abuse trauma, with Colson’s enduring sense of responsibility for her friend’s death positioning her as a compelling study in survivor’s guilt. Unfortunately, Night Swimming’s plot begins to unravel in its final third. Its chief antagonist, initially nightmarish and compelling, becomes increasingly cartoonish, which undercuts an otherwise tightly paced denouement. Overall, Kernot (Birdy) succeeds at drawing the reader into the mind of someone whose trauma tragically echoes and endures. Stylistically similar to Dorothy Porter’s erotic thriller The Monkey’s Mask, Night Swimming will also interest readers of Gillian Flynn for its tight pacing, while also remaining in an intriguing league of its own.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Alex Durac is a writer and editor. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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