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Swimming Towards Home
Paperback
Publisher: Val Woolley
Published: Apr 7 2026
Pages: 406
Weight: 1.19
Height: 0.83 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
This is a story of six generations of a family that spans across Africa, Europe, Asia, North America as seen through the eyes of a young girl and later as an adult. Born in Brazil into a loving family, Val is completely unaware of the history of rupture and dislocation that is baked into her family's trajectory. She is swept into the ongoing maelstrom of dramatic dislocations due to war, marriage, work transfers, exile and education, dating back to 1939. The repeated uprooting leaves her feeling untethered as she navigates different places and cultures.
As an adult, she has no settled place or point of origin she can call home. The persistent longing for home and belonging evolves into a lifelong quest for roots. Her search involves both travel and an exploration of her ancestry going back centuries. She, finally, has to let go of searching for an external sense of home and find a new paradigm, one that acknowledges the richness of her family legacy and reflects the realities of loss and longing.
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