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A lyrical, powerful, and richly textured novel about three lives that intertwine across oceans and time.
On the banks of the River Seine in 1899, a young woman takes her final breath before plunging into the icy water. Although she does not know it, her decision will set in motion an astonishing chain of events. It will lead to 1950s Norway, where a grieving toy-maker is on the cusp of a transformative invention, all the way to present-day Ottawa Valley in Canada, where a journalist, battling a terrible disease, risks everything for one last chance to live.
Taking inspiration from a remarkable true story, Coming Up for Air is a bold, richly imagined novel about the transcendent power of storytelling and the immeasurable impact of every human life. The legacy of the woman at its heart touches the lives of us all today, and this book reveals just how.
“Sarah Leipciger captures the nature of solitude and stillness in a way that no other writer does. The Mountain Can Wait was a wonder. Coming Up for Air expands her range even further, exploring that eerie shoreline where land and ocean meet, where breathing becomes drowning, and life teeters on the very edge.” — Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
“A beautiful and moving novel with an intriguing multi-point-of-view structure and an interesting and diverse cast of characters — a lady’s companion in Paris at the turn of the nineteenth century, a toymaker in Norway, and a mother caring for a daughter with cystic fibrosis. Sarah Leipciger weaves back and forth seamlessly — and suspensefully — among them. The prose is lovely, particularly the descriptions of nature, and the dialogue is punchy and spare. The ending is as unexpected as it is satisfying. A fine novel.” — Roberta Rich, author of The Midwife of Venice and A Trial in Venice
“Leipciger’s beautiful words are elegant, sharp, and bold, but what makes Coming Up for Air completely stunning is that it shows how people, living at different times and in faraway places, can breathe life into each other. The three lives run through the novel, flowing farther and faster until they converge in a powerful rush. The ending left me gasping.” — Claire Cameron, author of The Last Neanderthal and The Bear
“Glittering. Ambitiously imagined and richly woven. A triumph. From the first page, I was gripped not only by the scale of the narrative but the sheer fierce beauty of the writing. Here is a novel that dares to cross the boundaries of time, the elements, life and death, and does so with the twists and hooks and magic of a consummate storyteller.” — Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and The Music Shop
“Vivid and evocative . . . moving and intricate . . . A book about tragedy, love, and ultimately hope.” — Claire Fuller, author of Bitter Orange
“Leipciger is a masterful and brilliant storyteller who writes beautiful, concise, and clear descriptions . . . [Coming Up for Air] is a fascinating and enthralling must-read.” — Booklist
“Coming Up for Air is effervescent and audacious — a novel in which kicking for the surface, no matter how desperate the odds, is always worthwhile.” — Foreword Reviews
“Leipciger’s prose is rich and stirring.” — Quill & Quire