Swimming in the Sink: An Episode of the Heart

Champion long-distance swimmer Cox (Open Water Swimming Manual) has been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and holds open-water swimming records around the globe. The author swims, sans wetsuit, in some of the most frigid waters on Earth, including Antarctica and the Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand. In her new memoir, Cox chronicles how her deep grief (following the deaths of both parents and her Labrador retriever) and a startling diagnosis of arterial fibrillation precipitated a severe health and emotional crisis in her life. “It seemed like I had to start all over again,” she writes. “I had prided myself on being an elite athlete, and now I had to start from zero. It was sad, sobering, and scary.” Cox vividly explains her struggle to recover after facing the options of death, a heart transplant, or life as an invalid. Two years later Cox began training again in open water, which began her return to emotional and physical health. Friends, faith, meditation, and counseling all helped as well. Cox’s narrative is straightforward and intimate, and she never succumbs to self-pity. This satisfying journey through a world-class athlete’s heart-centered crisis is a warm tale of recovery and even finding love. (Sept.)