The Weight of Water

When Kasienka’s father leaves the family home in Poland in search of a new life, her broken-hearted mother resolves to follow him to England. Kasienka, who is reluctant to leave Poland, finds their shabby new home in Coventry damp and depressing.

To make matters worse, Kasienka is constantly made to feel like an outsider in her new school: she is ostracised by the other girls and finds no solace at home, as her mother spends all her free time determinedly searching the streets of Coventry for her missing husband.

The only release Kasienka finds from her problems is through swimming and an important friendship she makes at the pool with a boy called William.

This beautiful book is written in verse and captures 13-year-old Kasienka’s emotions and experiences perfectly. Although painful in places, this is an ultimately hopeful story, which will stay with the reader long after they have finished the last page.

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