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Published 2 June 2026
ISBN 9781923059726
Format EBook
Extent 288pp
Categories:

Night Swimming



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A psychological thriller in suspenseful verse that grapples with trauma, desire, jealousy and twisted memory.

Tell me about your dreams
about your sleep
about your nightmares.
Tell me everything,
he says as he leans
towards me,
his eyes resting
on my thighs.

January Clare Colson is longing for sleep, for release from the wakefulness that is consuming her, haunted by the tragic drowning of her best friend years ago when they were rebellious teens. She’s a mess of pills and broken promises, swimming in desperation.

Then he walks back into her life, changed but the same, and the events of long ago take a new grip on her. She needs to know what happened. She needs to know him. To call him to account.

But her strategy is dangerous, obsessive, warped by insomnia and the intense power of thwarted desire.

January Clare Colson is standing on the brink of destruction.

Sharon Kernot’s Night Swimming is a riveting psychological thriller that catapults the reader into the mind of a deeply tormented and vulnerable protagonist, blurring the boundaries between victim and aggressor with shocking effect.

‘Masterful...a tremendously satisfying novel—it is sharp, sexy and exciting, and it progresses with an impeccable narrative logic.’ Guardian

‘Tense, addictive and masterfully written—Night Swimming takes one woman’s obsessive dream of revenge and makes it all too real and relatable.’ Vikki Wakefield

‘Kernot's choice of form feels fresh against the formulaic tendencies of the thriller genre...in an intriguing league of its own.’ Books+Publishing
‘Powerfully contemporary, so urgent and visceral and so sophisticatedly literary – all at the same time.’ Conversation

Published 2 June 2026
ISBN 9781923059726
Format EBook
Extent 288pp
Categories:

Praise for Night Swimming

‘Sharon Kernot’s mystery novel in verse resonates with the dream-like quality of classic noir fiction…Her highly readable, short lines reflect the fragmentation of Clare’s insomniac consciousness.’

Australian Book Review

‘A psychological thriller, in the style of Dorothy Porter’s verse novels...Carries you along breathlessly...The threads only come together, most dramatically, at the end...an absorbing read.’

ReadPlus

‘An incredibly tense novel, written in verse, that you will absolutely fly through.’

Mamamia

‘January moves through a world where the boundaries between waking, dreaming and memory become increasingly unstable. The effect is unsettling and immersive, drawing readers into the protagonist’s state of exhausted uncertainty.’

InDaily

‘Once begun, I simply could not put it down...As January spirals down the path of sleeplessness, drug addiction, alcohol abuse and dysfunction at work, the reader is drawn into an addictive horror tale.’

Readings

About the author

Sharon Kernot

Sharon Kernot is the author of three novels including two acclaimed YA verse novels, The Art of Taxidermy and Birdy. Her poems and short stories have been published widely in Australia and internationally. Sharon lives in Mount Barker, South Australia.

Also by Sharon Kernot

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Rights for Night Swimming

Rights held: World

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