A Boy in the Water by Tom Gregory

The poignant, life-affirming story of a determined boy, a visionary coach, and how the dream of a record-breaking Channel swim became reality

Eltham, South London. 1984: the hot fug of the swimming pool and the slow splashing of a boy learning to swim but not yet wanting to take his foot off the bottom. Fast-forward four years. Photographers and family wait on the shingle beach as a boy in a bright orange hat and grease-smeared goggles swims the last few metres from France to England. He has been in the water for twelve agonizing hours, encouraged at each stroke by his coach, John Bullet, who has become a second father.

This is the story of a remarkable friendship between a coach and a boy, and a love letter to the intensity and freedom of childhood.

This book is fabulous, I need to be completely honest and say that I hadn't read the description of the book and as it was an advance kindle copy that I read, I hadn't spotted that the cover said 'a memoir'. So I'm reading the book and just thought it was brilliant... it had me gripped and I finished it in less than a day as I just couldn't put it down!! It was as I got to the end that I thought 'maybe this is a true story' and indeed it was. 

The way in which it was written was really moving, Tom has clearly retained the emotions from that time and they come across perfectly, I will admit that I did cry towards the end. 

It truly is an amazing story.