SWIMMING IN THE DARK BY TOMASZ JEDROWSKI

Written by Tomasz Jedrowski Published 2020

Book Review⁣⁣ by Jason King

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My latest read was a very different experience from my month-long slog through Ned Kelly - I devoured this one in just four days. I first picked it up years ago at the now-closing Bookshop Darlinghurst, drawn in by its stunning cover of a young man and knowing it was a queer novel. What sealed it for me was that it’s set in 1980s Poland - my bloodlines, my heritage. In so many ways, this could have been my story.⁣⁣

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𝘚𝘸𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 by Tomasz Jedrowski is more like a poem than a novel: tender, lyrical, and devastating. It follows Ludwik and Janusz, two young men who fall in love one summer, only to find their lives pulled apart by the oppressive weight of communism, Catholicism, and politics. Their secret affair is a fragile thing, threatened by forces larger than themselves, yet told with such aching beauty that it feels like a love letter still unfinished.⁣⁣

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The story pierced me because it echoed my own past. As a teenager, I loved two of my school friends in silence, too afraid of rejection and persecution to say a word. Reading Ludwik’s yearning, I imagined what it would have been like to confess that love, only for it to vanish the next day - stolen by politics, religion, or history. That ache of unspoken desire and impossible futures resonated so deeply, it felt personal, as I am sure it does for many queer folk older than thirty.⁣⁣

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Jedrowski’s writing is haunting - a Shakespearean tragedy without bodies on the stage, but where the heartbreak cuts just as sharply. It reminded me of Glenn, a boy I adored and experimented with from my Scouting days, whom I tracked down decades later, happily married with kids. Like Ludwik, I realised some loves live only in memory, beautiful but unreciprocated.⁣⁣

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The narration by Robert Nairne was superb - his voice brought both tenderness and weight, and I later discovered he’s voiced many characters in the Star Wars universe. No wonder he felt familiar; I’ve been listening to him for years.⁣⁣

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Yes, I lost track of the story a few times (possibly my own zoning out, possibly translation quirks), but it didn’t matter. This book is unforgettable. So far, it’s my number one read of 2025 - though it was released in 2020.⁣⁣

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Swimming in the Dark is one of those rare novels that stays with you, long after you close the cover - or, in my case, take out the earbuds.⁣⁣

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𝟒.𝟓 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝟓. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2