A lyrical, powerful, and richly textured novel about three lives that intertwine across oceans and time.

On the banks of the River Seine in 1899, a young woman takes her final breath before plunging into the icy water. Although she does not know it, her decision will set in motion an astonishing chain of events. It will lead to 1950s Norway, where a grieving toy-maker is on the cusp of a transformative invention, all the way to present-day Ottawa Valley in Canada, where a journalist, battling a terrible disease, risks everything for one last chance to live.

Taking inspiration from a remarkable true story, Coming Up for Air is a bold, richly imagined novel about the transcendent power of storytelling and the immeasurable impact of every human life. The legacy of the woman at its heart touches the lives of us all today, and this book reveals just how.

SARAH LEIPCIGER is the author of the acclaimed novel The Mountain Can Wait. She won THIS Magazine’s Great Canadian Literary Hunt and her stories have been shortlisted for the Asham Award, the Bridport Prize, the Fish Prize, and the PRISM International Short Fiction Contest. She holds a B.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Victoria and an M.A. in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths at the University in London, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Creative Writing, also at Goldsmiths. Born in Canada, she now lives in London, U.K., with her husband and three children, where she teaches creative writing in prisons.

Sarah Leipciger's profile page

Elliot Cowan's profile page

Deborah McBride's profile page

Claudia Jessie's profile page

Leipciger’s prose is rich and stirring.

Quill & Quire

Coming Up for Air is effervescent and audacious — a novel in which kicking for the surface, no matter how desperate the odds, is always worthwhile.

Foreword Reviews

Leipciger is a masterful and brilliant storyteller who writes beautiful, concise, and clear descriptions . . . [Coming Up for Air] is a fascinating and enthralling must-read.

Booklist