Author Glenn Stout does a masterful job of telling the story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim the 21-mile English Channel. Trudy, age 19, accomplished the feat on Aug. 6, 1926, becoming just the sixth person to do so. Stout points out that fewer people today have climbed Mount Everest than have swum the English Channel.
Swimming the English Channel, which is unlike any other body of water in the world, was recognized as the premier athletic feat. After Matthew Webb became the first person to swim the English Channel in 1875, it took 30 more years before his feat was duplicated. The tides, weather, fog and winds make the English Channel extremely challenging.
Ederle, who was hearing impaired, was the greatest female swimmer from 1922 through 1925, winning three medals, including a gold, in the 1924 Olympics. She dominated the sport and set more than a dozen world swimming records at all different distances.
Ederle burst onto the scene in the early 20's when spectator sports were exploding. Women, however, will still considered the weaker sex and incapable of outstanding athletic feats. Women were kept away from athletics because they "did not create a proper spectacle, strenuous exercise was not appropriate and was physically dangerous."
Stout does an excellent job of providing the context for Ederle's accomplishment. He covers the history of swimming, the pioneer female swimmers--Annette Ketterman and Charlotte Epstein--as well as the history of the Women's Swimming Association (WSA) and Trudy's early life.
Ederle failed in her first attempt to swim in the English Channel in 1925 under some suspicious circumstances. On Aug. 6, 1926, however, she accomplished the feat in 14 hours and 21 minutes, two hours faster than anyone else. Stout gives the reader a "you are there" feel as he describes the swim and the challenges. When Trudy reaches shore, it makes you want to stand up and cheer.
Although Trudy was the first woman to swim the English Channel, she never experienced the financial windfall that was expected. It was a combination of her deferring decisions to her father and agent, another woman duplicating her feat within months and failing to take full advantage of a small window of opportunity. Plus, at age 19, Trudy wasn't ready for the onslaught of fame.
She quickly faded out of the spotlight and had become almost totally forgotten by the end of the decade. At age 24, she said swimming the English Channel "wasn't worth it." The time of her swim, however, was not broken by a woman until 1955.
Stout writes, 'Her achievement was so stunning, so profound and so unexpected that the momentum of her accomplishment kept shattering stereotypes for decades."
Stout combines exhaustive research and a knack for telling a great story to make this an interesting and entertaining book.
Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World
4.6 | 152 ratings
Price: 22.04
Last update: 08-18-2024
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