In at the Deep End

David Davies — 2012

As he was carried off on a stretcher at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Welsh swimmer David Davies was celebrating his success. His exhausting performance in the first ever 10 km open water race earned him a silver medal and, more importantly, a place in British swimming history. But what was running though his head as he collapsed from the physical exhaustion of completing the Olympics' most gruelling swimming race? This is David's own story. The tale of how an ordinary schoolboy from Barry made the swimming world sit up and take notice. He talks about his determination and drive and his life both in and out of the water.

Reviews

Daniel Bower@danielbower

Sep 27, 2022

Great to read a book on such a different and important topic. But it suffers from being a tad too long and I found the humour falling flat at times.

Mirella Hetekivi@euphoricdopamine

May 24, 2022

Thank you for using your voice to speak up for those who can’t. For those who struggle or have struggled with similar experiences. It’s definitely an important story to tell, even though it might be hard for some readers to relive what the brain is desperate to suppress. It’s quite therapeutic to not feel alone, I’d say, even though it hurts.

Anna Agarwal@annabeth837

Nov 18, 2021

DNF @ 49% **2.5⭐️

Beth Bartholomew@BooksNest

Aug 3, 2021

Oh my gosh, I LOVED this book, the kind of love where I didn't want it to end and I was walking around with it glued to me. I really went on a journey with Julia, the protagonist, she changed and developed and became such a better character than she started off as. Quite early on in this book after some slightly awkward encounters with men, Julia decides she may very well be a lesbian and after exploring a bit, she confirms her thinking. I liked that the blurb didn't really give too much away about this, this development came as a surprise to me and it made me love the book even more. It was refreshing and insightful and I certainly learnt a thing or two whilst reading it. Now if you're not a fan of reading about sex, then this book probably isn't for you. It becomes quite graphic at times describing what Julia gets up to in bed with various other participants. It covers an unspoken world of sex clubs and threesomes, which I think is really important to be covered in popular literature. There was no holding back about the sex in this book and for that reason I loved it! It discussed very real issues that people may think they are alone in, for that I praise it! This book was fun and easy to read, set mainly in London, I enjoyed seeing city living and fueling my own wishes to live in England's capital. I loved the dynamics of all of the characters, they were all extremely accurate and real, if you didn't guess, the realistic writing in this book has been a huge plus for me! Basically this book was a refreshing and sexy adventure where Julia can really discover herself. I loved it from start to finish and I would definitely advise anyone picking it up!