The Tidal Year: a memoir on grief, swimming and sisterhood AS HEARD ON RADIO 4

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The Tidal Year is a podcast about the joy of swimming. Writer and wild swimmer Freya Bromley discovers the human stories behind why we swim. Every week, she’s joined by a new guest who shares what water means to them. Coronet has signed The Tidal Year, “a story about the healing power of wild swimming and the space it creates for reflection, rewilding, and hope” by wild swimmer and podcast host Freya Bromley.

Multi-hyphenate Steve Jones, TV presenter, podcaster, novelist and librocubicularist, discusses his debut novel Call Time. Freya Bromley is currently touring her debut memoir, The Tidal Year, which was published this May. We spoke through a screen during our interview, but that feeling of knowing the people she meets through her book remained. The mini reset that helps me recover from my fast-paced life Livvy Probert, founder of Hawq, makes time for a seaside trip every few months – In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too! We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.All have communities that meet regularly for swims and fundraise to keep them swimmable. I spoke to a woman at Clevedon Marine Lake in Bristol who said that swimming there saved her life. You might think that sounds hyperbolic, but after travelling around mainland Britain to swim in these places, I learned that it was a common theme. People are swimming to answer a question inside them. 'Why do I feel like this? When will I feel better? Can I keep going?' This memoir is a masterpiece that delves into the complexities of living through loss and grief. Freya’s writing style is beautifully descriptive and her honesty and rawness will keep you engaged until the very end. She shares her grief journey with such vulnerability that it's impossible not to feel a deep connection with her. It will also make you want to experience swimming in tidal pools.

Not one for lying in bed reading, Gardener's World gardener Rekha Mistry reveals what it takes to make great marmalade. When was the last time you stopped to notice the plants around you while you swam? This week's guest is Leif Bersweden, botanist and author of Where the Wildflowers Grow. We spoke about aquatic plants, where to find them and how to care for them. After Tom’s death, I focused on always having a million things on my mind to avoid thinking about his absence. Most of my distractions involved drinking, dancing and dating the wrong people. So, for New Year’s Eve 2019, when I was 22, I was planning on indulging in my triad of vices. The Tidal Year is captured by its subtitle, a memoir of ‘grief, swimming, and sisterhood’ which appeared following the loss of Bromley’s brother. Yet this is very much Bromley’s story – she firmly maintains: “it’s not my job to write a book about him. I don’t have that right, I’m not him, that’s his story. All I kind of was trying to write about was about what it was like to move forward with grief.”

This is something I do. I’ve often made the mistake of thinking that if I change something in my life, I’ll change my mood. As though my mind has a Restore to Factory Settings button that can only be activated by pottery classes or new Pilates bands. I like to think this at least makes me more original than getting a breakdown haircut. Freya’s first book The Tidal Year is published by Coronet. She’s appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live, spoken at bookshops and festivals around the UK and led workshops at Cambridge University. How nature helped me reconnect with myself after my parents died Pilates teacher Abby McLachlan, 48, shares how spending time in nature eased the How tidal swimming helped me make sense of incomprehensible grief When writer Freya Bromley's teenage brother died, she found an unexpected way to