OTHER FRUIT - Chlorine (ONLINE ONLY)

Please note - ONLINE only (via Zoom)

The Other Fruit Bookclub centres LGBTQ+ books, authors and readers and is hosted by Grey (they/them) - for February we are reading Chlorine by Jade Song

All are welcome to attend and take part in our discussions, however we ask that if you do not identify at LGBTQ+ you approach the book club as an opportunity for listening and support and give precedence to others in discussion.

We read and discuss one book each month - although there is a core group of regulars, new faces join each discussion and some people dip in and out depending on whether the book grabs their attention.

Use the code OTHERFRUIT at checkout to get 10% off bookclub books :)

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The Book:

Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool.

Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach, her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school.

Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.

But these are human concerns. The concerns of those confined to land. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers.

Stories that called sailors to their doom. Stories that dragged them down and drowned them. Stories of the creature that she's always longed to become: a mermaid.

Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine - the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free.

No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.

In the vein of Our Wives Under the Sea and The Vegetarian, Chlorine is a powerful, relevant tale of immigration, sapphic longing, and fierce, defiant becoming.