It's the mid-1920s and New York is shimmering with the hope and vigour of a younger generation in headlong pursuit of greater freedoms and pleasures. Watching from the sidelines, nineteen-year-old Savanna Mason struggles with the gravity of her perceived failures, finding release and security in the water. Savi believes that her swimming has the power to change her world. Just as it seems this notion has been shattered for good, she embarks on a journey to the Wrigley Ocean Marathon-a twenty-two-mile race from Catalina Island to Los Angeles. Inspired by true events, with vivid glimpses of Prohibition, class antagonism and the evolving attitudes of the flapper era, Sage Island is a poignant novel about a young woman diving and surfacing.
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Sage Island was shortlisted for the 2009 Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction.
(2009-01-01)"Think Marilyn Bell with bob, kohl-lined eyes, bee-stung lips and attitude to spare . . . Savi, on the verge of becoming one of life's long-distance losers and obsessed with acing the chewing-gum-sponsored 22-mile open-water swim, hits the waves while Warwick hits fever-pitch prose rhythms effortlessly, gliding into near-poetry that alchemically takes readers along for the marathon stretch . . . [Sage Island] will leave readers both satisfied and wanting more, as all fine first novels ought to do. . . It's a thoughtfully engrossing charmer worth the price of admission." —The Globe & Mail
(2008-09-01)"[Sage Island offers] genuine characters . . . Warwick's poetical use of words engulfs [the reader] . . . from the beginning to the end of the novel." —Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review
(2009-10-01)"I devoured [the book] in a few days . . . While some of the challenges [Savanna] faced were unfamiliar to me, her steely determination and blatant dismissal of the cynics in her life is something I not only identify with, but strive for." —Mallory Mead, US Open Water Marathon Swimmer
(2008-09-01)"Warwick creates a compelling read—one full of unexpected twists and fascinating characters who come to play a significant part in Savi Mason's reclamation. But apart from the engrossing characters and spot-on recreation of the first era of opulence in American sports, Warwick brings to fiction a striking and terribly engaging meditation on the authentic meaning of victory. The pace is brisk, the plot commanding, the characters vivid and sympathetic, the philosophy never intrusive." —Cindy Sherman for Aethlon: Journal of Sport Literature
(2009-03-22)"Sage Island is the story of an underdog overcoming adversity and winning, but the win is not the one we expect. Instead, we learn to redefine the very concept of victory—and the new definition is one that will appeal to 'dreamers and desperados' of every era." —Angie Abdou for The Fernie Fix
(2008-11-01)". . . an engaging blend of the historical contrasts of Prohibition and the flapper era with the always contemporary theme of personal achievement. Readers who take the plunge into this world of competition and coming-of-age will be rewarded." —Prairie Books NOW
(2008-11-01)"Keep your eye on those small Canadian presses. They may lack the marketing budget of big leaguers like HarperCollins and Random House but each year they publish some of the best emerging writers anywhere. A case in point is Samantha Warwick and her debut novel Sage Island, released in September by Victoria's Brindle & Glass. Set against the exciting backdrop of 1920s New York, Sage Island chronicles the coming of age of its young heroine Savanna Mason as she deals with relationships and personal flaws while seeking fame as one of the best competitive swimmers of her generation." —Endtype
(2011-11-01)"Warwick [is] a gifted novelist." —Calgary Herald
(2008-09-01)"Seamless use of historical detail and sensory language immerse the reader." —FFWD
(2008-09-01)"Like a first-time national qualifier who astonishingly strikes gold, Warwick's literary skills have launched her shoulder-to-shoulder with veteran novelists while delivering a golden piece of history . . . I believe Sage Island will soar, whether the reader can dog-paddle or not." —SwimNews Magazine
(2008-09-01)"Sage Island weds seamless flapper-era detail with a mesmerizing story of athletic obsession. Savanna Mason's desperate underwater odyssey is an unforgettable, near-visceral reading experience." —Lynn Coady, author of 2011 Giller-nominated The Antangonist
(2011-11-01)"There is an authenticity in the writing, a defining sense of experiential reality that grounds the story and yet carries with it a growing momentum." —Edmonton Journal
(2008-12-14)About the Author
Samantha Warwick was born in Montreal and raised in Sutton, Quebec and Vancouver. She received her MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia in 2003. Her work has been broadcast on CBC Radio and has appeared in various literary magazines including Geist, Event, Room and Echolocation. Samantha spent seven years coaching competitive swimming between 1997 and 2004, and has participated in long distance open-water swim races in British Columbia, California and New York. She now lives and works in Calgary where she is at work on her second novel. Please visit www.samanthawarwick.com.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
Format:Paperback
Samantha Warwicl's debut novel is based on a real event that is not much remembered any longer: the Wrigley Ocean Marathon swim of 1927, in which only one swimmer was able to complete the challenge. This novel is not about the winner, but about a young woman who (in the fictional world that Warwick creates around that event) also participated. I found the novel initially a little difficult to get into, although that may have just been due to my situation and not the fault of the novel. Once I had gotten into the story, however, I was very strongly engaged by the character and her situation, and by the recapturing of an era (the 1920s) when swimmers took on challenges such as swimming the English Channel and their feats, when successful, were the subject of headlines and the inspiration for ticker tape parades. In one sense, however, this is really a classic novel of a young woman growing to adulthood by taking on challenges and refusing to give up in the face of great difficulty - a bildungsroman, in other words - which is often the sort of novel that a young writer will create at the beginning of a writing career. Warwick shows great promise with this engaging novel, inspired in part by her own experiences in competitive swimming.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Absorbing Beautiful Read
Dec 19 2011
By Angela L. Abdou
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I loved this book about marathon swimming - like all good sport literature it's as much about life as it is about sport. The discussion of marathon swimming becomes an assertion of the importance of following dreams that allow us to defy convention and to challenge society's predetermined scripts... Sage Island is the story of an underdog overcoming adversity and winning, but the win is not the one we expect. Instead, we learn to redefine the very concept of victory - and the new definition is one that will appeal to `dreamers and desperados' of every era. - Angie Abdou, author and book reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars
A memorable slice of swimming history
Sep 29 2010
By Gordon Neufeld
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Samantha Warwicl's debut novel is based on a real event that is not much remembered any longer: the Wrigley Ocean Marathon swim of 1927, in which only one swimmer was able to complete the challenge. This novel is not about the winner, but about a young woman who (in the fictional world that Warwick creates around that event) also participated. I found the novel initially a little difficult to get into, although that may have just been due to my situation and not the fault of the novel. Once I had gotten into the story, however, I was very strongly engaged by the character and her situation, and by the recapturing of an era (the 1920s) when swimmers took on challenges such as swimming the English Channel and their feats, when successful, were the subject of headlines and the inspiration for ticker tape parades. In one sense, however, this is really a classic novel of a young woman growing to adulthood by taking on challenges and refusing to give up in the face of great difficulty - a bildungsroman, in other words - which is often the sort of novel that a young writer will create at the beginning of a writing career. Warwick shows great promise with this engaging novel, inspired in part by her own experiences in competitive swimming.
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