A Big Splash

Dhivya loves swimming.
But when her brother nearly drowns, she isn’t allowed to swim in the lake anymore.

Dhivya enjoys playing cricket with her friends.
But they don’t seem to want to play with her anymore.

Now what?

A Big Splash is a sensitively told story about a thirteen-year-old who blossoms not just into a champion swimmer, but into a sensitive human being. I love flawed protagonists, and Dhivya is exactly that – driven and passionate, but rather careless when it comes to letting her temper fly.

Like all the other books in the PARI series, A Big Splash begins in a small village. The village tank is the only place where Dhivya is permitted to swim, and so, naturally, she has little to do with the world of competitive swimming. When she finds out about a district competition, however, she jumps at the opportunity. Swimming is everything to her, and here’s her chance to prove it.
The district competition leads her to state-level swimming, national-level tournaments, and then, ultimately, the Paralympics. Her journey is not just that of a swimmer, though. With her new friend-cum-swimming-rival Ambika, Dhivya discovers that being outspoken is one thing, but if she wishes to retain her friends, she would do well to consider the effect of her words on people around her.

Based on a true story, but fictionalised with the permission of the original swimmers, A Big Splash is a quick, lovely read: a tale of grit, sprinkled with humour and fun.