Where We Swim takes the broad view on each component of its title: the ‘where’, the ‘we’, the ‘swim’. Wellington-based author Ingrid Horrocks explains that her original idea – to record a series of solo swims – was transformed when she realised such deliberate solitary excursions were ‘bracketed moments held deep within lives’ and that their contrivance ‘felt too close to the act of an explorer, or an old-school nature writer’.

Instead, Horrocks was drawn to an approach that ‘challenged narratives about travel (and life) as a great self-directed voyage out, an experiment in the discovery of the self ... Things turned out to be a lot messier.’ She embraced a less literal exploration of swimming, one where her many identities could find expression. The result is engaging and layered.