At Swim Two Boys

The other day a colleague was putting together a bibliography when she brought up the title of a book we both remembered and loved. It all came back to me in a wonderful flood of images that I just had to tell you about.

At Swim, Two Boys, by Irish novelist Jamie O’Neill is one of those achingly beautiful books whose vibrant images and deeply drawn characters remain etched in my brain almost ten years after I first read it. Jim and Doyler are boyhood friends in 1916 Dublin during the height of the Easter Uprising against British rule. Navigating their way through those violent and uncertain times, the two boys have only each other to rely on as their families and friends choose sides and draw blood. The boys’ ever-deepening relationship draws you in and you find yourself wanting to protect them from the chaos swirling around them.

The story unfolds in a stream-of-consciousness style which a number of reviewers have compared to James Joyce. I might suggest O’Neill is better than Joyce if only for the empathy which he feels for his characters. At Swim Two Boys is a beautifully, lovingly written book about the safe place where friendship and love live and the solace we can find there. And you can reserve it here.