Young Woman and the Sea

 

***1/2

PG

Easily Recommend

I saw the movie and it made me want to read the book :)

I guess I expected the book to be like the movie but it was quite different and that ended up being okay.

There is a whole lot of history in here...history of swimming, history of how the English Channel was formed, history of key (and some not so key) players, you name it and Glenn Stout covers it.  At first it was a little too much for me; I just wanted to get to the story, but in the end I felt like it was a good thing to have so much background leading up to Trudy's part in the big picture.

I cannot remember objecting to anything.

It was a fascinating book and truly interesting to learn about this aspect of history.  Honestly, reading about Trudy's life post channel swim was a little sad.  Kind of a tragic ending after such an accomplishment!

Overall, I can easily recommend this book for someone that doesn't mind a lot of history mixed in with the story of an incredible young woman who broke all kinds of records and expectations.