Coming Up for Air

Esther Wilson is well known for being clumsy. Staff at the school where she teaches are used to seeing her turn up for work looking like she’s done twelve rounds with Mike Tyson. She walks into doors and trips over everything from the carpet to the dog—even though she hasn’t got one! Apart from that her life appears to be perfect. Happily married to David, head teacher at the school where she works, the couple enjoy an enviable lifestyle. Good careers, holidays to far-flung places and a nice house nestled in the heart of suburbia. But behind closed doors, things are very different. For over ten years, Esther and David have been living a lie. Loyalty and love keep Esther from speaking out and asking for help. It’s only when a nosy neighbour intervenes, and the police are called out to her house late one night, that Esther begins to question the foundations of her marriage. With the help of her friends and family, Esther joins a support group in an effort to break free and immerses herself in a journey of self-realisation with a circle of women who all find themselves in the same boat. They form a synchronized swimming team and practise breathing underwater while Esther bravely attempts to make the break with her old life. Supported by a policeman who has seen her at her lowest ebb, cajoled by her eccentric Aunt who is hiding her own secrets and spurned on by her nosy neighbour, Angela, and her fiercely feminist friend, Christine, Esther finds a support network to help her break free. Her main aim through the support group is to come up for air eventually, but only Esther knows whether she has the courage to sink or swim.