A young woman walks out on her life, taking only her young daughter. She drives down to the seaside and they spend the first night camping on the beach. The next day, they cross the border and stop in a small Spanish town. And there they stay. The old life of routine and immobility is transformed into one of freedom and fluidity. Mother and daughter play on the beach, go for walks, eat ice cream. They watch the ocean. And they make new contacts: with the owner of the flat, with a swimming instructor who is teaching the child and with a strangely hesitant private investigator, hired by the woman's deserted husband... Intensely sensual, simple yet unnerving, Breathing Underwater is Darrieussecq's tour de force. The novel was hailed in France as 'gripping' (Le Monde), 'truly inspired' (Elle) and 'the good news we've all been waiting for' (Le Figaro).