These heavy Black bones

£18.99

By the age of fifteen Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell was world number one in the 50m breaststroke. Over the next three years, she would go on to become a double British champion, sports personality of the year in Kenya and make the GBR Olympic team. She was the first Black woman to do so. But this story is not about making history. This is the story of how she got there, what it cost her and, more importantly, why she walked away from it all. From swimming in wild lakes and the Indian ocean, to chlorine-damaged skin, gruelling training and press scrutiny, Rebecca charts her career’s ascent in stunning prose. Laying bare the pressures at the core of competitive swimming and meditating on Blackness and identity, ‘These Heavy Black Bones’ is a compulsive study of intensity and the ecstasy and agony of peak physical performance.

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Description

‘Poetic, candid and utterly compelling’ – FREYA BROMLEY
‘Absolutely remarkable’ – LYNN BARBER
‘Reads with the tension of a thriller, illuminating the world of elite sport, both the struggle and sacrifice’ – CATHY RENTZENBRINK
‘An embodied water odyssey’ – LIDIA YUKNAVITCH

This is not a story about making history.

Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell was once a double British Champion and the first Black woman ever to swim for Great Britain. As her body and mind are sharpened through gruelling training, press scrutiny and the harshness of adolescence, Rebecca charts her career’s ascent and her singular love of the water, before explaining why she walked away from it all.

A compulsive and unforgettable study of intensity, These Heavy Black Bones meditates on Blackness, identity and the ecstasy of peak physical performance, and lays bare the pressures within the swimming world.

Additional information

Weight 362 g
Dimensions 22 × 14.5 × 2.5 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback
Pages

256
Language

English
Edition
Dewey

797.21 (edition:23)
Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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