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Swim

The Astonishing Tale of Lucy Morton

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Swim

By: Lisa Brace
Narrated by: Linden Bresling
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About this listen

Paris, 1924. The Olympics. Lucy Morton, an ambitious Blackpool swimmer waits to find out if she’s won against her American rival. If she has, she’ll be the first British woman to win Gold in an individual event.

If she has, it’ll upset the apple cart. The Americans have been sweeping the boards and, at 26, she’s a veteran in the sport. If she has, it’ll be despite the car accident she was in just 48 hours before, which saw her lose five teeth, crack a rib and be out cold until the morning of the biggest race of her life. If she has, it’ll be a long way from the 10-year-old who almost drowned the first time she tried swimming, thrown into a pool to rectify her "dunce like" ways.

Morton’s biopic is one of a pioneering British woman, who represented Great Britain in the Olympics at a time when the male athletes outnumbered the female competitors 22 to one.

A woman who gained world records, competed during an air raid and had to battle against sexism and politics, whilst the First World War took place and suffragettes fought on their own frontlines.

Coming up to the centenary of Lucy’s Olympics in 2024 and with women still battling to be allowed to compete in sports across the world, her story is as relevant now as it was then. It is one of courage, perseverance and belief. It needs to be told.

©2024 Lisa Brace (P)2025 Lisa Brace
20th Century Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Sports Women's Fiction World War I Swimming

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I absolutely loved this book by Lisa Brace about the story of Olympic Swimmer Lucy Norton. It was well researched and written, fast moving and a very interesting insight in to Lucy’s life based on true events. Written against a background of the First World War and the Suffragette Movement, it’s a compelling tale whether you enjoy swimming or not, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone considering it.

However …..I just can’t get past the shockingly bad narration.

The monotone. The narrator’s glaring inability to pronounce simple words ie: saying “Brackstroke” instead of “Backstroke” or “Cup of Cope-Coa” instead of “Cocoa!” I actually had to rewind several times to make sure I wasn’t hearing things! Chapters 46 - 52 suddenly sounds like the narrator is reading inside an echo chamber. In an earlier chapter there is the distinct rustling of papers as she’s turning the pages of the script over. And most noticeable and annoying of all is her utter inability to enunciate in the correct places, or her very long pauses in all the wrong places, especially mid sentence which is not only baffling but very confusing as it completely changes the meaning of the sentences!!! She sounds like she’s forgotten what she’s supposed to be saying, gone to mow the lawn or popped out to run an errand, then come back some time later and remembered she still had a sentence to finish reading!

I was beyond baffled as clearly nobody had listened to the book and picked up on all of that before allowing the book to go public.

Third rate narration which was beyond a joke.

First class story though - so well done Lisa but PLEASE re-publish and spend money on a decent narrator!!!!

Brilliant story BUT shockingly poor narration

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