“I once read that the end of a relationship is like being involved in a road traffic accident. Which is quite fitting really, given what happened.”

Lizzie has begun to achieve all the things she thought she had ever wanted, but realises instead that she is far from happy. Then she steps out into the path of an oncoming car, and her life begins to unravel, setting off a life-changing chain of events.

Lizzie leaves her boyfriend and her home and moves to London to pursue her career. There, she attempts to overcome the legacy of her past and find out how to be happy alone. In doing so, she reconnects with two old friends, Zara and Catherine. Each friend, however, harbours a secret that is slowly revealed to Lizzie until Lizzie’s life takes another shocking twist and the friendship of all three women is threatened.

Swimming Upstream is a thoughtful but often humorous book about life and surviving its knocks. Set in the early 1990s in Cambridge and London, it is also a story of friendship, love and divided loyalties – and the moral choices that Lizzie ultimately faces, when the chips are down.

Described as “Eat, Pray, Love” meets “The Last Weekend”, Swimming Upstream is similar in style to books by Jojo Moyes (“Me Before You“), Elizabeth Gilbert (“Eat, Pray, Love“), Nick Hornby (“How to be Good“) and Blake Morrison (“The Last Weekend“)

I was born in South London and educated in Cambridge and London where I gained a bachelors degree in French and Spanish and a post-graduate diploma in Law. For several years I worked in the publishing industry before leaving my job, my relationship with my long-term partner and my home to travel and also to write the first draft of Swimming Upstream. I then put my writing career on hold for several years while I retrained as a lawyer. I have always had an interest in civil liberties and have cared strongly about injustice as well as loving books and wanting to write.

I now live in Oxfordshire with my husband and our two children. I still practice as a lawyer and juggle that with writing and raising the children. My first child was born in 2002 with a severe learning disability, which means that he is also physically disabled (the two often go hand in hand) so it’s been tough! I’ve written about this – and about friendships, relationships and surviving life’s challenges generally – on my blog page if you’d like to know more.

I am an avid reader as well as a writer and author. My favourite books are women’s fiction novels and I write in a similar style to the authors I enjoy: Elizabeth Gilbert (“Eat, Pray, Love”), Nick Hornby (“High Fidelity” and “How to Be Good”), Blake Morrison (“The Last Weekend”) and David Nicholls (“One Day”). I also loved “I Don’t know How She Does it” by Allison Pearson and “A Thousand Acres” by Jane Smiley (two very different books!). My favourite book of all time is “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee.

Swimming Upstream is my debut novel. It has just been released and currently has 4.5 out of 5 stars over 26 reviews on Amazon UK.

I have plans for a second novel which I hope to begin writing in the next few months. So, watch this space!

Ruth Mancini, February 2013