Paradise

An unnamed protagonist is on holiday with her new, much-married lover, in the company of the monstrously rich. ´How long would she last? It would be uppermost in all their minds.´ Each day, while the others are out at sea, she is taught to swim. Eventually, she will be expected to perform. The pressure mounts; it is only a matter of time before she snaps. Edna O´Brien crafts a quietly horrifying scene of eroticism and insecurity, and makes one woman´s near-fatal discomfort stand for society´s larger trap.