Books & Books presents

TOMASZ JEDROWSKI discussing his novel SWIMMING IN THE DARK

Friday, March 21st, 5:00pm ET

Doors open at 4:30pm

PEAR House Courtyard - 529 Eaton Street

When university student Ludwik meets Janusz at a summer agricultural camp, he is fascinated yet wary of this hand­some, carefree stranger. But a chance meeting by the river soon becomes an intense, exhilarating, and all-consuming affair. After their camp duties are ful­filled, the pair spend a dreamlike few weeks in the countryside, bonding over an illicit copy of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. Inhabiting a beautiful, natural world removed from society and its con­straints, Ludwik and Janusz fall deeply in love. But in their repressive Communist and Catholic society, the passion they share is utterly unthinkable.

Once they return to Warsaw, the charismatic Janusz quickly rises in the political ranks of the party and is rewarded with a highly coveted government position. Ludwik is drawn toward impulsive acts of protest, unable to ignore rising food prices and the stark economic disparity around them. Their secret love and personal and political differences slowly begin to tear them apart as both men struggle to survive in a regime on the brink of collapse.

Shifting from the intoxication of first love to the quiet melancholy of growing up and growing apart, Swimming in the Dark is a potent blend of romance, postwar politics, intrigue, and history. Lyrical and sensual, immersive and intense, Tomasz Jedrowski’s indelible and thought-provoking literary debut explores freedom and love in all its incarnations.

About the Author: Tomasz Jedrowski is a graduate of Cambridge University and the Université de Paris. Born in Germany to Polish parents, he has lived in several countries, including Poland, and currently resides outside Paris. Swimming in the Dark is his first novel.

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This is an in-person event taking place outdoors.  Registering ahead of time helps us to plan for a successful event but is not required. In the event that attendance reaches capacity registered guests will be seated first.

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Praise for Swimming in the Dark -

“Swimming in the Dark is captivating both for its shimmering surfaces and its terrifying depths. I began reading, and soon realized I wouldn’t be doing anything else that day. I needed to see these boys, these lovers, through to the end. Tomasz Jedrowski is a remarkable writer, alive to the ramifications of history and politics, in which the violence of a corrupt state can never fully stamp out the flourishing of beauty, grace, and resistance.” — Justin Torres, National Book Award-winning author of Blackouts and We the Animals

“Reading Swimming in the Dark is a bit like peering into someone’s most intimate moments of self-discovery. It’s poetic and tender, burning with a quiet rage at the persecution the LGBTQIA+ community in Poland has suffered for decades and continues to fight against today. It’s a beautiful story – I hope you love it as much as I do.” — Dua Lipa, on selecting Swimming in the Dark for her Service95 book club 

"This is a lyrical exploration of the conflict between gay love and political conformity. Jedrowski is an authentic new international star." — Edmund White, award-winning author of Our Young Man

"Marvelous, precise, poignant writing; the reader is happy to be overwhelmed. The highest talent at work." — Sebastian Barry, award-winning author of Days Without End

“Jedrowski has woven a brilliant tale about two people in love who are torn apart by a political divide and a difference in values. . . . A tender, sad, and moving love story . . . full of suspenseful intrigue, conflict, and passion.” — The Gay & Lesbian Review

“Remember the feeling of the last day of summer camp? Nostalgia for something you haven’t quite lost yet? Tomasz Jedrowski captures that wistfulness in his debut novel . . . Jedrowski’s writing reminds us that even in the face of oppression, life continues.” — Ari Shapiro, NPR, Book Concierge