Each summer, a family tradition unfolds at a lakeside cabin in Maine, where relatives gather to enjoy outdoor activities and communal swimming—a practice emblematic of the state’s unofficial motto, “the way life should be.” Reflecting the restorative and unifying qualities of swimming, two recently published novels explore this theme with distinct yet compelling narratives centered around pools and water.

Julie Otsuka’s 2022 novel, *The Swimmers*, presents a dual narrative that intimately probes the lives of a community united by their ritual immersion in an underground pool. The story’s first part adopts a collective first-person voice, capturing a diverse group of swimmers who use the pool for various forms of solace, healing, or escape from personal struggles. Their shared devotion to swimming takes on symbolic weight when they discover a crack at the pool’s bottom—raising questions of threat, change, and the fragility of their sanctuary. The narrative then narrows its focus to Alice, a retired woman grappling with dementia, and her daughter, who returns home in an attempt to reconnect amid Alice’s decline. Otsuka’s experimental use of shifting perspectives—from the community’s collective voice to second-person viewpoints—deepens the emotional resonance and emphasizes themes of memory, loss, and belonging.

In contrast, Jessica Anthony’s *The Most*, published in 2024, zeroes in on a single transformative day for a suburban couple, set in a mid-century-style apartment complex outside Newark, Delaware. The novel begins with Kathleen Beckett’s sudden decision to spend the day submerged in the communal pool, an act that disrupts the routine and surfaces long-buried secrets within their marriage. Through alternating reflections of Kathleen and her husband Virgil, the narrative reveals strained relationships marked by infidelity, secrecy, and personal dissatisfaction. Anthony’s prose balances sharp characterization with an incisive portrayal of marital discord, weaving literary allusions and vivid descriptions to convey the emotional tensions simmering beneath the surface. At just over 130 pages, the novel offers a compact yet intense examination of family dynamics and individual reckoning.

Both novels use the motif of swimming pools not merely as physical settings but as spaces for introspection, confrontation, and transformation. While Otsuka’s work emphasizes communal bonds and the intersection of collective and individual memory, Anthony’s narrative dwells on personal turmoil and the unraveling of appearances within domestic life. Together, these works underscore the enduring symbolic power of water as a site of refuge, reflection, and rupture.