Audio only
Length6h 30m
About this audiobook
“Imagine Call Me By Your Name set in Communist Poland and you'll get a sense of Jedrowski's moving debut about a consuming love affair amidst a country being torn apart.” — O Magazine, LGBTQ Books That’ll Change the Literary Landscape in 2020
“Captivating both for its shimmering surfaces and its terrifying depths. Tomasz Jedrowski is a remarkable writer.” — Justin Torres, bestselling author of We the Animals
Set in early 1980s Poland against the violent decline of communism, a tender and passionate story of first love between two young men who eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the political divide—a stunningly poetic and heartrending literary debut for fans of Andre Aciman, Garth Greenwell, and Alan Hollinghurst.
When university student Ludwik meets Janusz at a summer agricultural camp, he is fascinated yet wary of this handsome, carefree stranger. But a chance meeting by the river soon becomes an intense, exhilarating, and all-consuming affair. After their camp duties are fulfilled, the pair spend a dreamlike few weeks camping in the countryside, bonding over an illicit copy of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. Inhabiting a beautiful natural world removed from society and its constraints, Ludwik and Janusz fall deeply in love. But in their repressive communist and Catholic society, the passion they share is utterly unthinkable.
Once they return to Warsaw, the charismatic Janusz quickly rises in the political ranks of the party and is rewarded with a highly-coveted position in the ministry. Ludwik is drawn toward impulsive acts of protest, unable to ignore rising food prices and the stark economic disparity around them. Their secret love and personal and political differences slowly begin to tear them apart as both men struggle to survive in a regime on the brink of collapse.
Shifting from the intoxication of first love to the quiet melancholy of growing up and growing apart, Swimming in the Dark is a potent blend of romance, post-war politics, intrigue, and history. Lyrical and sensual, immersive and intense, Tomasz Jedrowski has crafted an indelible and thought-provoking literary debut that explores freedom and love in all its incarnations.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.2 (98.9K)
Includes Goodreads, StoryGraph, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreFantasy, General Fiction
Length6 hrs 30 mins
Narrated byWill Watt
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateApr 28, 2020
LanguageEnglish
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Before the Coffee Gets Cold: A Toshikazu Kawaguchi Book SetToshikazu Kawaguchi18h 55m4.5 (1.4K)$40 · $0.00
The Song of AchillesMadeline Miller11h 15m4.3 (2.3M)$29 · $0.00
The Left and the LuckyWilly Vlautin6h 40m4.4 (1.1K)$24 · $0.00
Hunt of the DragonJuliette Cross9h 46m4.4 (736)$20
Deadly GameChristine Feehan13h 20m4.3 (15.8K)$30
A Tree Grows in BrooklynBetty Smith14h 55m4.4 (577.6K)$33 · $0.00
Dark GuardianChristine Feehan12h 32m4.5 (26.3K)$33 · $0.00
The Neil Gaiman ReaderNeil Gaiman27h 3m4.5 (3.2K)$53 · $0.00
The HobbitJ. R. R. Tolkien10h 51m4.4 (4.9M)$12 · $0.00
Bad HabitAlana S. Portero5h 37m4.4 (52.3K)$24 · $0.00
Science Fiction & Fantasy CollectionH. P. Lovecraft16h 32m4.5 (2.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Undead PoolKim Harrison16h 13m4.4 (34.6K)$33 · $0.00
The Edge of DawnBeverly Jenkins10h 15m4.5 (1.1K)$29 · $0.00
The Tapestry of FateShannon Chakraborty20h 2m4.4 (3.4K)$46 · $0.00
The Lack of LightNino Haratischwili26h 20m4.4 (9.2K)$53 · $0.00
My Dear HamiltonStephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie23h 7m4.4 (63.6K)$46 · $0.00
A Broken People's PlaylistChimeka Garricks6h 40m4.4 (3.7K)$24 · $0.00
Wicked BiteJeaniene Frost8h 56m4.4 (14.6K)$29 · $0.00
WhistlerAnn Patchett10h 45m4.6 (4.6K)$29 · $0.00
Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver21h 3m4.5 (949.4K)$46 · $0.00
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee12h 18m4.5 (7.4M)$29 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Cast in BloodMichelle Sagara16h 35m4.6 (607)$33 · $0.00
The Captain Blood Trilogy (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini29h 20m4.6 (1K)$3 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The George Orwell CollectionGeorge Orwell24h 46m4.5 (14.4K)$12 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 38m4.5 (9.2K)$2 · $0.00
Driving ForceElle James4h 58m4.6 (407)$20 · $0.00
When God Calls the HeartBrian Bird, Michelle Cox3h 24m4.6 (439)$10 · $0.00
Five Little IndiansMichelle Good10h 34m4.5 (64.5K)$29 · $0.00
Lolth's WarriorR. A. Salvatore13h 20m4.6 (2.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers29h 49m4.5 (58K)$8 · $0.00
Going PostalTerry Pratchett11h 23m4.5 (189.9K)$29 · $0.00
Glen AffricKarine Giebel22h 51m4.5 (3.2K)$46 · $0.00
The Book Of NegroesLawrence Hill15h 45m4.5 (107.3K)$33 · $0.00
Anne of Green GablesL. M. Montgomery11h 1m4.5 (1.2M)$2.30 · $0.00
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
You may also like
First Love (Annotated)Ivan Turgenev4h 25m3.8 (27.6K)$2 · $0.00
Learned By HeartEmma Donoghue8h 50m4.0 (16.6K)$29 · $0.00
TrilbyGeorge Du Maurier11h 23m3.6 (2.5K)$2.30
DublinersJames Joyce7h4.0 (209.9K)$2.30
After the DanceLeo Tolstoy25m3.7 (2.4K)$2.30
PulpRobin Talley11h 48m4.0 (5.2K)$25 · $0.00
Golden AgeWang Xiaobo8h 44m3.9 (1.1K)$20
Everyone LeavesWendy Guerra5h 20m3.7 (1.1K)$24 · $0.00
Dusty AnswerRosamond Lehmann12h 20m4.0 (1.4K)$2.40
First LoveIvan Turgenev4h 4m3.9 (32.7K)$2 · $0.00
Coming up for AirGeorge Orwell8h 37m4.0 (40.9K)$2.30
RuthElizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell17h 11m4.0 (14.4K)$2.30 · $0.00
A Separate PeaceJohn Knowles6h 8m3.9 (250.2K)$20
The Book of SaltMonique Truong10h 24m3.7 (8.8K)$22
THE SWEET CHEAT GONE (Unabridged) (Annotated)Marcel Proust13h 52m4.4 (5.9K)$2 · $0.00
The Guermantes WayMarcel Proust27h 4m4.4 (17.3K)$0.60 · $0.00
Tell the Wolves I’m HomeCarol Rifka Brunt11h 46m4.2 (151.5K)$23 · $0.00
Journey by MoonlightAntal Szerb8h 13m4.2 (11.3K)$5 · $0.00
Some Do Not (Historical Novel)Ford Madox Ford14h 38m3.9 (1.5K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Seventh GateRichard Zimler25h 37m4.2 (1K)$23