Marilyn Bell: The Heart-Stopping Tale of Marilyn's Record-Breaking Swim

Janet Money is a writer and policy analyst for the Canadian Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation.

Long-distance swimmer Marilyn Bell’s successful conquering of Lake
Ontario in 1954 made her a household name across Canada. Only 16 at the
time she set out from Youngstown, New York, en route to the Canadian
National Exhibition grounds in Toronto, Bell went on to achieve many
other amazing marathon swims.

Apparently relying only on previously published accounts of the swim,
Tivy puts the reader right there, in the water with Bell and in the
guide boat with her coach Gus Ryder, with occasional side trips into
Bell’s early years and Ryder’s founding of the Lakeshore Swimming
Club. There is a good deal of interesting information about Ryder’s
coaching philosophy and willingness to welcome any kid, including those
with disabilities, who wanted to learn to swim.

Also notable is an amusing account of the pitched battle between two
Toronto newspapers to get the “exclusive” story of the swim: a
reporter dressed as a nurse climbs in beside Bell in the ambulance
ferrying her from the Toronto shore to the Royal York Hotel where an
opposing paper had booked her a room; photographers pop out of trash
barrels for close-up shots on shore. (In fact, more photos would have
added to the appeal of this volume.). Tivy’s patronizing reference to
the 16-year-old Bell as a “tired little girl” at the end is quite
off-putting and should have been edited out. Otherwise this is a fine
and at times gripping account of a remarkable athlete’s epic victory.