Coming up for air is a book that has stayed with me long after I finished reading it. The story has themes of sadness woven throughout, as we follow the stories of three separate individuals all linked in some way by water.

An unknown girl becomes a companion to an elderly Parisian lady, and we follow her as she moves to Paris and learns the ins and outs of living with her companion.

We then travel to meet Anouk, who is slowly drowning in her own body as a result of cystic fibrosis. She’s young when we meet her, her family life slowly unwinding as we join her in her journey.

Finally, we meet Pieter who is driven by a tragic event that happened in the river near their home.

I loved the slow untangling of the three separate stories. The writing is languid and melancholy, and I felt pulled down, as though in water somehow, too.

I felt the further I got through the book the more intertwined each narrative became until at the end we realise it’s all part of the same story. The story gathers pace, just like a river, tumbling together and overlapping.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, as the book was billed as the description of the invention of the Resuscitation Annie doll, but I absolutely loved it.

Based on true events this book made me want to find out more about the characters that appear in the story and it has stayed with me for many weeks after I finished reading.

Wow, this is a beautifully written book. Part true and mostly fiction but it sweeps you along with the different stories and the characters emotions. Brilliant #NetGalley#ComingUpforAir

I was really intrigued by the concept of this book and like the idea of the 3 stories being linked by water/a struggle for air. Sadly I found quite quickly that the story lines were quite stagnant, with long drawn out chapters about nothing in particular. That on top of a needlessly brutal and gratuitous section about a violent death of a deer, means a very rare 1 star from me.

Without doubt, stunning writing if all a bit depressing .. timeliness of
lung disease description is amazing .. the different ways of contemplating water are poetically and realistically written ..even rigorously .. presented. The voice of the drowning/suicidal speaker at opening, then memorialised and useful medically, figuring in all our stories .. works well despite my worries as I read how it would tie up together. It's the narrative voice and writer's confidence and skill holding it all together that made the connections .. immersive read. Very impressive, and gripping..

It is difficult to rate this book which has 3 viable and essentially interesting narratives but absolutely no connective tissue joining them. I struggled even to get through the text until I decided it just wasn't necessary to work out what the author was trying to say (because whatever it was she was making a complete hash of it), but simply to follow the disparate story lines. I understand the book is based on truth - my question is what truth? What of the 3 divisive narratives was true ? The obligatory LGBT tale and drowning in Paris?, The drowning of Bear ? or the development of cystic fibrosis? My feeling is it none of these - rather it is the development of ResusciAnn - an also ran in the narrative department of this book.

I feel this was a bad book and because it failed to draw together whatever it was aiming to draw tog ether. I feel the reader was let down and I won't be looking for more by this author

Coming Up For Air follows three people’s stories across three time zones linked by the theme of water. It starts by creating a narrative behind the resuscitation mannequin used across the world. ’Resuscitation Annie’ is based on the death mask cast from a woman found drowned in the Seine in the 1880s. She was never identified. Leipciger creates a beautiful narrative of how this woman might have lived in the period before her death.

We are then moved to the mid 20th Century, and a toy maker who is haunted by loss linked to water. Then from the 1980s to the present day we follow the story of a young woman drowning in her own lungs due to cystic fibrosis. The themes of loss and water weave these three tales together and even the reading process echoes these themes, because the novel inspires reflection and thoughts of our own mortality. It’s a quiet and introspective reading experience. I found myself thinking a lot about my own loss, my husband died of pneumonia and primary progressive MS in 2007 and also drowned in his own lungs. However, my MS is progressing and I wondered about my own life to come and the ways in which I do follow in his footsteps. That sounds like a morbid reflection, but there is a comfort in the shared elements of these experiences one hundred years apart. It made me think of the Jungian collective consciousness and how much of what we know is shared knowledge.

Water is a metaphor for life. We need it to live. We are drawn towards it - think how many visits we make to the sea, riverside attractions and streams. We build cities around rivers and prioritise sea views when we book a special holiday. We find it exhilarating and welcoming in equal measure. I go into warm water in order to soothe pain, to feel weightless and be able to move easier. It’s amazing how something can give us life, but also have the potential to suffocate, submerge and wash us away. It is strange for me to think about that moment when I float gently in the water and feel cushioned and pain free, but then also think that fluid in my own body could kill me.

The characters in the novel illustrate this dichotomy between life being given and taken away. We each make sense of tragedy in our own ways. For one, water takes life away but also takes away the pain and despair she has felt at the loss of love. For another, a macabre invention is a way out of feeling unbearable grief. A girl fights against a terrible disease that’s literally filling her lungs. Every one of these characters is in a fight with life - trying to live as long as possible, to live with unbearable pain, to leave a life they can no longer bear. Our experiences are not isolated from one another, they are all connected. It made me think about the point at which we truly leave this life. Is it when the heart stops beating or is it when there was no one left in this world to remember us.

This novel made me resolve to talk about Jerzy more, even with my new stepdaughters and nephews who didn’t meet him. I tell them he was charming, cheeky and clever. That when you lose someone the love continues. I found this novel moving, reflective and strangely hopeful. Whatever we experience in life, someone else will have been through it. It made me think of E.M.Forster’s Howard’s End and the exhortation to ‘only connect’.

This book is something special. It's a beautifully written story that spans across three lives and countless years. It's a carefully interwoven tale of intense emotions & feelings.
Wonderfully portrayed and executed by the author. I'd highly recommend this to all.
Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for my arc. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

I couldn't quite get the measure of this book to start with. It dots about historically and it takes a while for the characters to establish themselves. I only really settled into the rhythm of it about 20% of my way through it. There are three main strands to the book which do connect even though at the beginning you might think they don't. This is a clever book which keeps you guessing to the end. Nicely paced and lots of tension. The characterisation is strong and the plot pulls you along. If, like me you are unsure of where you're going with it at the beginning, persevere. It's very clever and a really rewarding read.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Random House UK for the ARC.
This was an interesting read with the author weaving fact and fiction through three lives, each a century apart, and their influence on the creation of the CPR mannequin Resussi Annie (Rescuci Anne).

An unknown woman (L'Inconnue) who drowns in the river Seine in France in the late 1800s.
Pieter Akrehamn, a toymaker and inventor in Norway in the 1950s and his younger days in the 1920s..
Anouk, a journalist from Ottawa River, Canada, from childhood in the late 1980s to the present day; with supplementary points of view from her mother Nora.

All three lives revolve around water and breath.
We learn of the unknown woman's last year of life as companion to an elderly lady in Paris, culminating in her throwing herself in the river in despair. Unidentified she's still beautiful in death and a death mask is made before she is buried. A commercially saleable item many years later, it becomes the face of Resussi Annie.

Pieter, as a young father, loved the river near their home in Norway, swimming and fishing he involved his son in his love for the water - until tragedy strikes.

Anouk, suffering from cystic fibrosis, takes every opportunity between her physiotherapy and medications to use the rivers as a means of strengthening her breathing and the feeling of freedom it gave her.

I found it a little confusing to follow because of the constant swapping of points of view in the timelines, but each part of the story gave real atmosphere to the environments in which the three lives were lived, especially Paris.

As said, it was interesting but hard to follow at times.

This tale tells the story of three extraordinary lives which are woven together over decades and time and continents.
In 1899 a young girl dives into the Seine ending her life.
In the 1950's a Norwegian inventor makes a discovery.
In Canada, in present time, a Canadian is desperate to live.
What links them all together?

A real artefact, the death mask of an unknown nineteenth century French woman, is the starting point for three intersecting stories exploring the events that led to the woman's death by drowning in Paris, the circumstances that prompted a Norwegian toymaker in the middle of the twentieth century to design a manikin for teaching artificial resuscitation, and the experience of a Canadian woman in the twenty-first century awaiting a lung transplant.

The connection between these stories is tenuous – thematic rather than structural – but I was prepared to accept this because the quality of the writing is frankly breath-taking. The observation of detail, the evocation of sense impressions, the author's ability to invest the minutiae of experience with significance – all of these are beautifully realised. Here, for example is a description of the French woman's final journey towards the River Seine, in which she will shortly drown herself:

"Paris. Deepest, coldest night. I consumed the night air like wine, and walked at a brisk pace towards the river. All my senses buzzed. Extinguished gas lamps glowed with the ghosts of remembered light. I thought I could hear laughter and music and the rumble of the underground train tunnel that was being constructed for the World's Fair. Empty hooks in the butcher's window. Horseless carriages lined up in courtyards. The locksmith locked up tight."

I love those empty hooks in the butcher's window. And the gas lamps extinguished now but still glowing with "the ghosts of remembered light." What a perfect turn of phrase! Reading this novel, I felt like I was seeing the world through the eyes of the characters rather than just hearing about it. That's exactly what literary fiction is for.

A thoughtful portrait of intersecting lives across different generations. A book which shows the ripples of how one person can touch another, unknowingly and years apart, over vast distances.
Not fast paced, or full of twists, this was nevertheless a highly enjoyable and thought provoking novel.
The characters are engaging and realistic, containing within a rollercoaster of emotions, which are portrayed well enough to be felt. I found myself empathising with every twist of the characters lives, thoughts and feelings.
A well written story, which I found extremely enjoyable. A relaxing read, yet full of ups and downs. Intriguing, especially as based on certain facts, which are explained at the end. I would read this one again

A beautifully written, evocative tale spanning three different eras and locations. Intriguing and heartbreaking at the same time. I’ve not read this author before, but will look out for her in the future.

Beautifully written, three separate stories that have water as a common theme. They seemed unconnected, until the final part of the book, when it all fell into place - until then, I felt as though I were reading three separate stories and couldn't see a connection, but, when I did, it all made for a very poignant ending.

I have to admit I skipped to the end of ‘Coming Up For Air ‘ by Sarah Leipciger. I just didn’t get it, I understood how the three stories were linked , water, drowning etc but I found myself asking why? Some parts were interesting but I found it very pedestrian and a bit boring.

This is a fantastic historical fiction story about the creation of the resuscitation manikin known as 'Anne', a face I remember well from my First Aid training days. A tragic but beautiful tale that weaves together three stories in different times and places, all linked by various threads, including water and breathing, or the inability to breathe. Readers should be sure to read the fascinating Author's Note at the end of the book for the true events which inspired this wonderful story.

From the beginning I was totally hooked with this book. Each chapter takes you not only to a different person, but also a different country and a different period of history. From the very start I was wondering how on earth these three people could possibly be linked and I was amazed at how they eventually came together. The final link isn't revealed until the end of the book and is quite remarkable. Each character has different traumas and troubles to face up to and at times you can't believe how they have the strength to carry on.

One chapter we are in 1899 Paris, then the next we are in mid 1950s Norway and finally we travel to 1980s Canada, each time following the next part of that particular characters story. Some of the chapters are very thought provoking and we can see how far we have come in changing attitudes towards traumatic events in our lives. We also are taught that we shouldn't judge people until we know the full reasons why actions are taken. People can become desperate when faced with adversity and we should never judge why people do certain things.

It is very hard to review this book without giving any details away, which is something I strive to do. I don't like to give too many details away. All I can say is read this book. It is very thought provoking and an amazing read. The book is beautifully written, with many passages causing me to think more deeply rather than just reading for the sake of reading a book. It is one that will stay with me for a long while and I still find myself thinking about it a week after finishing it.

Many thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Coming Up for Air took its inspiration from a true story, and this is evident throughout the book, although it doesn’t interfere with the rich and clever storytelling.

We move through three different timeframes: Paris of the late 1890s, Norway in the 1950s and recent to present day Canada. I loved the ambition of Sarah Leipciger’s story that spanned centuries and was hugely impressed with the immense detail of each world she created.

This is an epic novel about fierce love, grief and human resilience, revealing the remarkable reverberations our lives can create, long after our deaths.

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 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 power of storytelling and the immeasurable impact of every human life

The authors writing is utterly sublime. It is also compelling. You must read this beautiful, riveting novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for an advance copy in return for a fair and honest review

Drowning seems strange theme for a novel yet it had potential in this weaving of three lives across three centuries for whom drowning and the water of nature had a different, compelling presence. I wanted to be hooked by the idea and then by the story but generally I found the story telling too factual for my style, too detached. The idea does work, eventually and the interconnecting of the stories unfolds by small degrees. On reflection I approached Sarah Leipciger’s second book with too much expectation of style and storytelling. I thought it would be a nicer read, where instead I found harsh edges of life I didn’t really want to enter. But for that I have to take responsibility and looking back now to see that there are three well drawn central characters, with some neatly coloured secondary and tertiary figures. It may not be my style but it has stretched my reading repertoire and challenged me with some harder realities in life; and I am glad of it.