Elsewhere girls

Emily Gale

Book - 2021

Cat has recently started at a new school on a sports scholarship, and she's feeling the pressure of early morning training sessions and the need for total commitment. Fanny loves to swim and she lives for racing, but family chores and low expectations for girls make it very hard for her to fit in even the occasional training session. Cat and Fanny have never met. They both live in the same Sydney suburb, but in different worlds, or at least different times: Cat in current-day Sydney, and Fanny in 1908. But one day, time slips and they swap places. As each girl lives the other's life, with all the challenges and confusion it presents, she comes to appreciate and understand herself and the role of swimming in her own life. Narrated ...in alternating chapters by Cat and Fanny, Elsewhere Girls is a moving and funny story of two girls with a deep connection, one based on the Australian Olympic champion, Fanny Durack. It's a fresh and engaging exploration of the challenges and pressures for young women growing up in the past and today.

Saved in:

Children's Room Show me where

jFICTION/Gale Emily
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room jFICTION/Gale Emily Checked In
Subjects
Published
Melbourne, Vic. : Text Publishing 2021.
Language
English
Main Author
Emily Gale (author)
Other Authors
Nova Weetman (author)
Physical Description
312 pages ; 20 cm
ISBN
9781922330451
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Two white 13-year-old swimmers--one in 2021 and one in 1908--swap bodies in this cheerful feminist tale by Australian authors Gale (The Other Side of Summer) and Weetman (It All Begins with Jelly Beans). After her father loses his job, Cat Feeney and her family relocate from her beloved Orange to Sydney so they can have a fresh start. On top of moving stress, she's worried about maintaining her swimming scholarship. Meanwhile, 113 years in the past, all Fanny Durack wants to do is swim, but she is weighed down by myriad responsibilities, which include caring for her eight siblings. Their lives converge across time when the two visit the same local pool at the same day and moment in their respective years, and find themselves mysteriously inhabiting each other's bodies after a dive. Even as they struggle to figure out how to return to their own lives, the teens marvel at each new experience. Historical factoids abound in this contemplative story, which, through Cat and Fan's individual self-discoveries and inquisitive alternating perspectives, deftly examines the evolution of traditionally feminine gender roles. Fan is based on Sarah Frances Durack (1889--1956), the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal for swimming, as noted in an afterword. Ages 9--12. (Aug.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Two Australian girls swap bodies and eras: Cat Feeney goes back to 1908 and Fanny Durack forward to 2021, experiences that prove liberating for both. Their lives converge when each of them, in their separate times, go swimming at Wylie's Baths in Coogee, near Sydney. Cat and Fanny narrate their confusion over the jarring body-swapping time travel in alternating first-person voices. As they pick up clues, they discover that they have swimming in common. Their responses to women's roles and the conveniences and inconveniences of life in each time period are warmly relatable. Cat hates restrictive, gender-based chores and clothing. Laundry and ironing require hours of labor, and she dislikes swimming in a heavy woolen bathing suit. Fanny is thrilled to go to school and enjoys riding in cars. She favors packaged food and is shy about her skimpy bathing suit. As Cat and Fanny rail against and adjust to their circumstances, they each clarify their passions, defining for themselves, without family or cultural pressures, their goals: Cat to get her Surf Rescue Certificate; Fanny to fight for a women's Olympic swim team. How can they trade places again so they can pursue their dreams? Cat is White, as is Fanny, a character inspired by Sarah Frances Durack, who in 1912 became the first woman swimmer to win an Olympic gold for Australia. Racial diversity in secondary characters reflects past prejudices and changing attitudes. A charming, eye-opening exploration of gender restrictions and self-determination. (afterword) (Fiction. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.