The Tidal Year: a memoir on grief, swimming and sisterhood AS HEARD ON RADIO 4

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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. 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. Creative writing workshop at Leeds International Festival with Projecting Grief on 20th August - Sign up here >

First published in 1947, Varsity is the independent student newspaper for the University of Cambridge. 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. Swimming also gave me community and connected me with one very special friend, Miri. We began taking weekend swimming trips out of London and I became obsessed with tidal pools. I decided that, with her by my side, I would swim all of Britain’s tidal pools in one year. My book The Tidal Year is about our adventure. As Freya travels further from London, she finds herself closer to memories of her brother. With every swim, and every stranger they meet in the water, the challenge becomes more than just a way to explore the coast, but a journey of self-discovery.Her experience was not without frustrations, but Cambridge allowed Bromley to solidify her identity and confidence through learning and community. “We all had this shared intention of wanting to […] turn something that felt like a secret inside us into being a huge part of our identity. That was really powerful to be around. It was almost like we were co-signing each other’s dreams.” 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.” Bromley, 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. For Bromley, the goalposts for success are constantly moving. “There was a time where the thought of having an agent was the best thing in the world. And as soon as I got an agent, I was like, I’ll be so happy when I get a book deal. Now I’ve had a book deal, I move on to the next thing.” Identity has been something that Bromley has realised is internal, and not earned. “I didn’t feel like I would have a right to call myself a writer if I didn’t have the book, whereas now I know that I’m a writer, inside me.” By the time we finally knew what was happening, Tom’s Ewing's Sarcoma was everywhere. My family had both a long time to say goodbye and never enough time to face the reality of someone we loved – and someone so young – being ill. Even now, it doesn’t feel real. I remember people saying, 'I just can’t believe it'. Yet really it is the most believable thing of all. We know death happens every day, we just try to avoid paying attention. Dying is the most predictable thing anyone can do. Just not when they leave behind me or leave behind you. Tom died in November 2016.

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.When we hung up, I got the train home from university and spent the journey trying to tell myself it would be ok. People get better from cancer all the time! They get better and they run half-marathons for charity when it becomes a story from their past. Then I got home and realised from everyone’s facial expressions that it was not that kind of cancer. After Tom’s death, I focused on always having a million things on my mind to avoid thinking about his absence. Most of my distractions involved drinking, dancing and dating the wrong people. So, for New Year’s Eve 2019, when I was 22, I was planning on indulging in my triad of vices. I adored this book, with its beautiful imagery and depictions of the British coastline. It’s hard to give structure to your own story but Freya manages to convey her development via clear plot points while refusing to portray grief as linear. I loved the honesty of this book; the anger and injustice of a teenage boy dying too soon, the guilt of dating and living without him, and the difficulties of connecting to other family members after a huge shift in your dynamics. 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. All have communities that meet regularly for swims and fundraise to keep them swimmable. I spoke to a woman at Clevedon Marine Lake in Bristol who said that swimming there saved her life. You might think that sounds hyperbolic, but after travelling around mainland Britain to swim in these places, I learned that it was a common theme. People are swimming to answer a question inside them. 'Why do I feel like this? When will I feel better? Can I keep going?'

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. 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. We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead. When was the last time you stopped to notice the plants around you while you swam? This week's guest is Leif Bersweden, botanist and author of Where the Wildflowers Grow. We spoke about aquatic plants, where to find them and how to care for them.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.