Holding Her Breath is a coming of age story that also involves family secrets and a mystery to solve. Beth Crowe, a competitive swimmer, has started university later than her peers, and looks to establish herself outside of her swimming fame. She becomes friends with classmates and tries to balance reintroducing swimming back into her life and have a social life with her new friends. Early on it is revealed that she is the granddaughter of a famous poet, Benjamin Crowe, who died by suicide at the height of his career. Both her classmates and a postdoc are enthralled with Benjamin's work and legacy. Beth tries to reconcile this with her relationship with Ben's widow Lydia as she tries to understand his life more. Lydia is the keeper of Ben's archive which everyone is salivating over and she protects his legacy and secrets closely. As the book progresses, we observe Beth's growth as well as the mystery of Ben's life and death unravel. I was quite engaged in both plot threads. Beth's relationship with her friends was rewarding, and I enjoyed the little nuggets about her grandfather's life revealing slowly. I was not engaged in Beth's affair with the postdoc, outside of it being part of her coming of age journey, though did not get the attraction. But overall, an engaging coming of age tale that I think will have components appealing to many readers. I look to read what Elmer Ryan writes next.

Thank you to Mariner Books via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

This book was something special from the very start. The narrative is written so well that it flows together seamlessly that your almost forgetting it is a book and not a movie playing our in your mind. Eimear created such rich characters both alive and dead. Following Beth’s journey of discovery if her famous Grandfather poet, hee family past & present and her reclaiming herself through it all. I loved every minute of it and was waiting for the next curve ball or discovery to pivot the storyline and change your sense of what you thought was true. It’s a beautiful book and worthy of your next read!

HOLDING HER BREATH was a beautiful, heartwrenching novel about grief, family, love, identity, and poetry. I was blown away by Eimear Ryan's novel and was sad to reach the last page. The writing was crisp, emotional, and real; the characters were lovely and believable. I felt for Beth and her struggles with love, with her family, with her swimming career and mental health. This book tackles some heavy topics, but does so with care and grace. I highly recommend this one and will eagerly await other work by Ryan.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC which I received in exchange for my honest review.

Holding Her Breath by Eimear Ryan is a most excellent debut novel by a young Irish author.

The novel focuses on Beth Crowe, a student whose is just entering the university as a 20-year-old. Early on, we learn that she has undergone some personal crisis in a life-long pursuit of excellence in competitive swimming. As she begins school, she has only peripheral knowledge of her heritage: Her grandfather was a famous Irish poet. She never knew him, as he committed suicide before she was born, but she is very close to her grandmother.

This family history helps open up a path for her roommate, Sadie, to become a friend.

The history also brings her closer to Justin, an English post-doc, though perhaps he is more interested in the grandfather than Beth.

Beth finally realizes that she must discover what she can of her grandfather’s life, and particularly his final months.

This is a very, very good book; and I can highly recommend it.

3/5

I was approved by the publisher and received a free e-copy of this through NetGalley. Thank you!

CW: death of a loved one, discussion of suicide, cheating, teacher-student relationship, death of a family member

Includes: exploration of athletic culture

Holding Her Breath attempts to simultaneously explore the themes of legacy and its interplay with identity and the pressures and demands of being an elite athlete. Unfortunately, it fails to dive in (pardon the pun) to a deep enough level to really make a profound statement, leaving use with a painfully average book. This is of course, not to say it cannot be enjoyed. There is something magnetic about Ryan's simple writing style that keeps the pages turning, however it cannot hide the fact that the goal of the author was too grand to contain in such a limited length.

There was an interesting theme of water that is reflected in both Beth and her deceased grandfather, Ben. I wish that had been explored a lot more and used to sort of form a link between Beth and Ben, especially because she embarks on this mini quest to understand the grandfather she never knew. I personally am not fond of the reason she decides to delve into her ancestry and that it's all because of a man. Beth is completely uninterested and maybe even repulsed by her famous ancestry for most of her life, but after meeting a man she suddenly has this deep interest. I wish there had been more of a personal reason, I think it would have added a deeper level to this piece and made it more about self discovery and what defines us. Instead, it just felt like this random side quest in a video game. Sure there's a little story, but it doesn't really change anything.

This book is obviously deeply embedded with themes of suicide and mental health, but there really doesn't seem to be any serious discussion. Sure it shows us that there is stigma around it, that is nothing we don't know. It also defines it as an illness, another thing that we know. There is nothing profound, Ryan does a lot of showing to the audience, but never takes that next step to make a statement of her own. This is the exact same for her exploration of sports culture. We see the pressures, but what about it?

There was a lot of potential, but I think Ryan felt pulled in so many directions she failed to fully explore a single one of them. Is it an entertaining story? Sure. But the failing to take the extra step really just left it at "average" for me.

A powerful story that keeps you captivated. This is basically a story of a woman whose going through a difficult time. I really enjoyed it.