Sharon Kernot's verse novel Night Swimming is a sharp, sexy and tremendously satisfying thriller that uses its poetic form to powerful effect. The novel traces the disintegration of January Clare Colson, a woman haunted by the death of her best friend Julie at age 16, as she descends into obsession and paranoia.
Insomnia and psychological unraveling
Kernot portrays Clare's insomnia with striking physical and psychological detail. Since Julie's death, Clare has suffered from intense parasomnias including sleep paralysis, sleepwalking, and hallucinatory nightmares. She survives by self-medicating with red wine and sleeping pills. In early scenes, Clare lies to a doctor to obtain a new prescription, her desperation palpable. She also recounts the well-meaning but infuriating advice people give her: "You need to go to bed earlier/ Or get up earlier/ Get some morning sunshine/ Meditate." It is clear Clare is barely holding herself together.
A past that refuses to stay buried
The catalyst for Clare's unraveling is the appearance of a man at the front counter of the social services agency where she works. She immediately recognizes him from her reckless teenage years, noting that "the past presents itself in the shape of a man." The man, unnamed throughout the novel, was once the object of shared attraction between Clare and Julie, fueled by adolescent intensity and transgression. He disappeared so completely after Julie's death that Clare could not prove his existence to the police. Now, he is still attractive, "wolfish" and athletic, and Clare cannot help but pursue him, driven by old desire and the need for answers.
The verse novel form
Kernot has previously published two young adult verse novels, including the award-winning Birdy in 2024, as well as a traditional novel in 2013. The verse novel form suits Night Swimming perfectly: its fragmented intensity mirrors sleep-deprived irrationality, and its rapid pace heightens the dread and suspense of the thriller. The novel sits within a lineage of Australian verse novels, with the influence of Dorothy Porter's The Monkey's Mask especially clear. Where Porter used poetry references as suspects and investigation scenes, Kernot plays with the contemporary thriller genre. Her unstable female protagonist nods to that tradition, as do scenes where Clare stakes out the man's house after copying his address from her agency's database, and disguises herself as a home hairdresser with scissors and hair dye.
Masterful narrative control
What is most masterful is Kernot's control over the slow unfurling of Clare's backstory. Details of her teenage hijinks with Julie and the night of Julie's death emerge gradually, constantly shifting the reader's understanding of Clare and sympathy for her. These shifts are subtle but accumulate, until it becomes clear that Clare may not just be unstable but untrustworthy. The revelations are gripping, especially as they coincide with Clare's deepening obsession with the man from her past. Her pursuit is both genuinely desirous and motivated by a search for answers, muddying the waters deliciously.
A satisfying and compelling read
Night Swimming is a tremendously satisfying novel: sharp, sexy, exciting, and progressing with impeccable narrative logic. Clare's interior world and her ever-increasing desperation are finely drawn and captivating. There is something intensely beautiful and painful in her memories of teenage friendship and nascent sexuality. It is a complex and compelling novel, and great fun to read. Night Swimming by Sharon Kernot is out now through Text Publishing.
