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. 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.

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. Writing a memoir implied a large degree of vulnerability for Bromley, who “worried a lot when I was writing it that I came across like a really moany bitch. [...] But now, I wish I’d had the confidence to go further with some of the ugly thoughts and feelings I had. Why do we [women] have to be likeable?” For Bromley then, being a writer and being successful are tied to externalising feelings that she describes are “tangled.” Though she still struggles with validation, confessing it to be “addictive”, her understanding of what it means to “do well” and more importantly, what doing well means to her, is shifting.

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Freya Bromley is a writer living in London. Her work explores love, loss and healing through nature and she’s written for publications including Apple Music, Lonely Planet, Financial Times and National Geographic Traveller. 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 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.”

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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.

This podcast resonated with me on such a deeper level than just swimming. Freya and guests talk about over coming fears, grief, moving on from different chapters in your life and family. The Tidal Year is a true story about the healing power of wild swimming and the space it creates for reflection, rewilding, and hope. An exploration of grief in the modern age, it’s also a tale of loss, love, female rage and sisterhood.

It's hard to capture the joy of swimming in words, let alone art, but Lizzy Stewart somehow manages it. This week's guest is the wonderful illustrator and author of the graphic novel Alison. We spoke about painting pools, Devon's beaches and the connection between creativity and water. My book The Tidal Year is out today! As a special thank you to my podcast listeners, I've included a free preview of the prologue and chapter one from the audiobook read by me. Here's more about the book: Are you searching for a podcast that brings together nature and storytelling? The Tidal Year is a series about the joy of swimming! Meet Freya Bromley, a writer and wild swimmer who’s interested in the human stories behind why we swim. Each week, she’ll be joined by a guest who shares what water means to them.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes - I'm the only person to walk round the world — Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Russell Watson, Philippa Gregory, Rev Kate Bottley How tidal swimming helped me make sense of incomprehensible grief When writer Freya Bromley's teenage brother died, she found an unexpected way toBromley, who is currently studying on the Creative Writing Master of Studies course at Cambridge University, commented: “I’m thrilled that The Tidal Year has found a home with the talented team at Coronet. I didn’t expect my first book to be a memoir and I certainly didn’t think I’d be writing about something as personal as my brother’s death. Grief in the Wild: Finding Refuge in Nature for Good Grief Festival on 28th October - Register here > Online Recordings