SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
This is not a story about making history.
Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell was once a double British Champion and the first Black woman ever to swim for Great Britain. As her body and mind are sharpened through gruelling training, press scrutiny and the harshness of adolescence, Rebecca charts her career's ascent and her singular love of the water, before explaining why she walked away from it all.
A compulsive and unforgettable study of intensity, These Heavy Black Bones meditates on Blackness, identity and the ecstasy of peak physical performance, and lays bare the pressures within the swimming world.
'Poetic, candid and utterly compelling' - FREYA BROMLEY 'Absolutely remarkable' - LYNN BARBER 'Reads with the tension of a thriller, illuminating the world of elite sport' - CATHY RENTZENBRINK 'An embodied water odyssey' - LIDIA YUKNAVITCH
Author
About Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell
Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell is an ex-elite athlete who swam for both Great Britain and Kenya over a 10-year career. She is a former British Champion, world number one and the first Black woman ever to swim for Great Britain. Honoured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2023 in the Social Impact category and TIME's list of 18 Black leaders working to end the racial wealth gap, Rebecca is also the CEO of the 10,000 Interns Foundation, a non-profit that champions underrepresented talent. Rebecca studied Fine Art at the University of Oxford. She lives in London but still calls Kenya home. These Heavy Black Bones is her first book.
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