Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

Once they return to Warsaw, the charismatic Janusz quickly rises in the political ranks of the party and is rewarded with a highly-coveted position in the ministry. But in their repressive communist and Catholic society, the passion they share is utterly unthinkable. Inhabiting a beautiful natural world removed from society and its constraints, Ludwik and Janusz fall deeply in love. After their camp duties are fulfilled, the pair spend a dreamlike few weeks camping in the countryside, bonding over an illicit copy of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room.

But a chance meeting by the river soon becomes an intense, exhilarating, and all-consuming affair. When university student Ludwik meets Janusz at a summer agricultural camp, he is fascinated yet wary of this handsome, carefree stranger. Set in early 1980s Poland against the violent decline of communism, a tender and passionate story of first love between two young men who eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the political divide - a stunningly poetic and heartrending literary debut for fans of Andre Aciman, Garth Greenwell, and Alan Hollinghurst. Tomasz Jedrowski is a remarkable writer.' (Justin Torres, best-selling author of We the Animals ) 'Captivating both for its shimmering surfaces and its terrifying depths. 'Imagine Call Me by Your Name set in Communist Poland and you'll get a sense of Jedrowski's moving debut about a consuming love affair amidst a country being torn apart.' ( O Magazine, LGBTQ Books That'll Change the Literary Landscape in 2020)

Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski