Farlane on Writing subscribers in August draw for Snorkelling the Abyss by Jan Jordan

Snorkelling the Abyss: One woman, striving to survive, fighting for survivors (The Cuba Press) by Jan Jordan; cover design by Sarah Bolland; cover photo by Robert Cross

Snorkelling the Abyss is the ‘book draw’ 📚 gift for August 2026. It is described as “an honest, unapologetic and moving account of trauma, survival and advocacy”. One Farlane on Writing subscriber will win a signed copy.

I found Snorkelling the Abyss (nonfiction but reads like a novel) unputdownable — I read it over two days. It is also one of those 'reverberating books', where I’ll keep remembering moments from the story.

Editor’s note:

Emerita Professor Jan Jordan: successful academic and passionate advocate for survivors of sexual violence. Janet Robinson: despairing cutter and overdoser, excluded from university ‘for failure to make satisfactory progress’.

Snorkelling the Abyss explores the two worlds of one woman and the apparently unnavigable void between them. With searing honesty, Jan Jordan shows how she fought to free herself from an inner culture of self-loathing and the external culture of a suburban childhood that repressed ‘feelings’ and ignored psychic pain – and only then could she work towards transforming the rape culture and gender inequities of Aotearoa. This is a powerful story that affirms the importance of connection and the imperative of speaking out.

If you are subscribed to Farlane on Writing — form below — you’ll be in the draw for the possibility of winning a signed copy of Snorkelling the Abyss; and in September, you will go in the draw for the possibility of winning a signed copy of And How Are Things With You.