Elsewhere Girls

Its midnight and Im alone in the kitchen eating a cold potato scallop. Coach OCall would say something like, Thats not what I expect from a scholarship girl because I have to be up for squad training in five hours and Im not supposed to go near potato scallops, and-oh, yeah-its my fifth.

Cat has recently started at a new school on a sports scholarship, and shes feeling the pressure of early morning training sessions and the need for total commitment. Fanny loves to swim and she lives for racing, but family chores and low expectations for girls make it very hard for her to fit in even the occasional training session.

Cat and Fanny have never met. They both live in the same Sydney suburb, but in different worlds, or at least different times: Cat in current-day Sydney, and Fanny in 1908. But one day, time slips and they swap places.

As each girl lives the others life, with all the challenges and confusion it presents, she comes to appreciate and understand herself and the role of swimming in her own life.

Narrated in alternating chapters by Cat and Fanny, Elsewhere Girls is a moving and funny story of two girls with a deep connection, one based on the Australian Olympic champion, Fanny Durack. Its a fresh and engaging exploration of the challenges and pressures for young women growing up in the past and today.