A new re-issue of the cult swimming classic a beautiful read filled with detailed description and powerful prose.WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY AMY LIPTROTA luminously romantic history of swimming' GuardianHaunts of the Black Masseur is a dazzling introduction to the great swimming heroes from Byron leaping into the surf at Shelleys funeral to Hart Crane diving to his death in the Bay of Mexico. Bursting with anecdotes Charles Sprawson leads us into a watery world populated by lithe demi-gods a world that has obsessed humans from the ancient Greeks and Romans to Yeats Woolf Fitzgerald and Hockney. Original enticing and dripping with references to literature film art and Olympic history this cult swimming classic pays sparkling tribute to water and the cultural meanings we attach to it.This splendid and wholly original book is as zestful as a plunge in champagne' Iris Murdoch