Coming Up for Air
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  • Published: 20 February 2020
  • ISBN: 9781473567603
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320

Coming Up for Air

A remarkable true story richly reimagined

Formats & editions
EBook
20 Feb 2020
Audiobook
19 Mar 2020
Paperback
29 Mar 2021
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A breathtaking, deeply immersive story of three extraordinary lives bound together across oceans and time, yet whose paths will never cross. Sarah Leipciger counts Rachel Joyce, Mark Haddon and Terri White among her fans.

'Bold in its weaving of three ingeniously linked storylines and rich in sensuous detail and vivid characterisation. I can't wait for her next.' PATRICK GALE

'A stunning, stirring story told with exceptional skill and rare beauty.' TERRI WHITE

'Glittering. A triumph.' RACHEL JOYCE

**LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN 2020**

THREE EXTRAORDINARY LIVES INTERTWINE ACROSS OCEANS AND TIME

On the banks of the River Seine in 1899, a young woman takes her final breath before plunging into the icy water. Although she does not know it, her decision will set in motion an astonishing chain of events. It will lead to 1950s Norway, where a grieving toy-maker is on the cusp of a transformative invention, all the way to present-day Canada where a journalist, battling a terrible disease, risks everything for one last chance to live.

Taking inspiration from a remarkable true story, Coming Up for Air is a bold, richly imagined novel about the transcendent power of storytelling and the immeasurable impact of every human life.

MORE PRAISE FOR COMING UP FOR AIR:
'Extraordinary.' FRANCIS SPUFFORD
'Vivid, evocative, moving. I loved it' CLAIRE FULLER
'Spellbinding and beautifully written.' CARYS BRAY
'Dazzling . . . I savoured every word of its beautiful prose' PRIMA
  • Published: 20 February 2020
  • ISBN: 9781473567603
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 320
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About the author

Sarah Leipciger

Born and raised in Canada, Sarah Leipciger lives in London with her three children, and teaches creative writing to prisoners. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the Asham Award, the Fish Prize and the Bridport Prize. Her first novel, the critically acclaimed THE MOUNTAIN CAN WAIT, was published in 2015. COMING UP FOR AIR is her second novel.

portrait photo of Sarah Leipciger

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Praise for Coming Up for Air

An extraordinary, three-century braid of air and water: the way we float, the way we drown, the way we surface again against the odds.

Francis Spufford

Sarah Leipciger captures the nature of solitude and stillness in a way that no other writer does. THE MOUNTAIN CAN WAIT was a wonder. COMING UP FOR AIR expands her range even further, exploring that eerie shoreline where land and ocean meet, where breathing becomes drowning, and life teeters on the very edge.

Mark Haddon

Leipciger writes with great compassion and precision, her language is an exquisite mix of muscle and grace

Michèle Forbes

Vivid, evocative, moving. I loved it

Claire Fuller

Writing to sink into. Just stunning.

Wyl Menmuir

Spellbinding and beautifully written . . . an extraordinary novel. I can’t wait to read what Leipciger writes next.

Carys Bray

Here is a novel that dares to cross the boundaries of time, the elements, life and death, and does so with the twists and hooks and magic of a consummate story teller.

Rachel Joyce

Gripping from the first page.

Katy Khan

Captivating and thought-provoking . . . Leipciger is a masterful and brilliant storyteller . . . a fascinating and enthralling must-read.

Booklist

Dazzling . . . A stunning interwoven story of three threads set in different times and countries . . . I savoured every word of its beautiful prose.

Prima

A stunning, stirring story told with exceptional skill and rare beauty.

Terri White

Exceptional skill... exquisite descriptions... Fact and fiction flow together like two rivers conjoining and making together for the sea... a beautiful novel of compassion...

The New European

Coming Up For Air confirms Sarah Leipciger as a major talent. A meditation on mortality and our will to survive and save, it's really bold in its weaving of three ingeniously linked storylines and rich in sensuous detail and vivid characterisation. I can't wait for her next.

Patrick Gale

Hauntingly melancholic and richly detailed

Scottish Herald.