Tough Girl
  • Published: 15 August 2018
  • ISBN: 9781632171849
  • Imprint: Blue Star Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $38.00

Tough Girl

Lessons in Courage and Heart from Olympic Gold to the Camino de Santiago

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A coming-of-age memoir of a young swimmer's triumphs and heartbreaks on the path to winning Olympic gold at age 14. Some 50 years later, author Carolyn Wood embarks on a solo pilgrimage to walk the 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago in an attempt to reclaim her "inner tough girl" as she reflects on coming out as gay in the 1970s after a brief marriage and motherhood, and the disillusionment and loss she experiences when her 30-year relationship suddenly ends.

A coming-of-age memoir of a young swimmer's triumphs and heartbreaks on the path to winning Olympic gold at age 14. Some 50 years later, author Carolyn Wood embarks on a solo pilgrimage to walk the 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago in an attempt to reclaim her "inner tough girl" as she reflects on coming out as gay in the 1970s after a brief marriage and motherhood, and the disillusionment and loss she experiences when her 30-year relationship suddenly ends.
 
After several failed attempts at learning to swim, young Carolyn Wood finally conquers her fears and dives into unknown waters. By 1958 she sets a goal to make the 1960 Olympic team and, along with teammates and competitors, begins the arduous road to Rome. Losses, pain, fear, and fatigue accompany the rambunctious athlete as she finds her way through athletic training, school, and dealing with social gender expectations as she realizes she's gay.
 
Tough Girl artfully weaves Wood's life story around the tale of her long walk on the Camino de Santiago, an effort to tap into her tough girl resilience so she can begin to accept the end of her long marriage. The ups and downs of Carolyn's childhood road to the Olympics as well as her journey on the Camino, will thrill and inspire readers.
  • Published: 15 August 2018
  • ISBN: 9781632171849
  • Imprint: Blue Star Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $38.00
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Praise for Tough Girl

"The book answers all the questions anybody might have about how a brash but supremely talented tomboy could become a human torpedo in the water. [And] then it tells the rest of the story: how she grew up in the conventional 1950s and 1960s denying her sexuality, how that sexuality was ripped out into the open in a heartbreaking child custody hearing in 1976, the adjustment, then fulfillment of her life as a gay woman, and how she coped with the painful breakup of a relationship with her partner of thirty years." --the Oregonian

"Wood was just fourteen years old when she won a gold medal in swimming in the 1960 Olympics. For athletes of any age, winning a gold medal is the accomplishment of a lifetime. For someone as young as Wood, the path to gold involved a childhood spent in the water, a dedication to achieving the ultimate prize despite doubts and fears, and the physical fatigue of endless hours in the pool. Interspersed with the history of Wood's Olympic achievement is the more recent story of her travels in Spain along the Camino de Santiago, a challenge she hoped would help her recover from a painful breakup and rediscover the "tough girl" she knew herself to be. Wood recalls her path to gold carefully and succinctly, placing readers firmly inside the mind of a young, very driven girl with strength beyond her years. Equally driven is the adult Wood, who looks back on her life as a person coming to terms with her sexual identity and facing a future without her longtime partner, Rose. Wood's compelling memoir is the deeply engaging story of a child's path to glory and a woman's journey to finding herself again. It is a powerful reminder of the importance of living our lives truthfully, both in and out of the pool."
--Booklist

"If you liked Cheryl Strayed's Wild, you will love Carolyn Wood's memoir Tough Girl. While Strayed walked the Pacific Coast Trail to find herself, Wood journeyed on the Camino de Santiago in Spain to reclaim the fourteen-year-old tough girl of her youth who competed in the Olympics in 1960. Wood's story of coming out, of finding and losing love, of healing herself on a lonely pilgrimage is the story of courage in the face of heartbreak. One that many of us need again and again."

​--Linda Christensen, director, Oregon Writing Project, Lewis and Clark College