When not caring for his ailing mother, twenty-three-year-old Damon can be found swimming laps at the Sea Point Pavilion. Here he meets the confident Nico, who immediately charms him back to his home. Damon is torn between dealing with his mother’s terminal illness and keeping his sexuality a secret from her. His desire to be truthful is tested when her health takes a turn for the worse, forcing him to choose between his young lover and an unspeakable promise to help end her life. A tender portrait of caregiving, the longing for intimacy and the heartbreak of letting go, Salt Water Pool Boy is a sensual exploration of love and loss charting a young man’s journey from Cape Town to Rome to Paris, from working on a film set in Cinecittà and obsessing over a male prostitute, to trying to salvage his long-term relationship by searching for intimacy in a string of one-night stands. When a casual hookup threatens to open old wounds, Damon realises he has yet to fully come to terms with his troubled past.

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

‘A gifted writer whose work brims with astute emotional insight, tenderness and lyricism.’—Ferdia Lennon, author of Glorious Exploits

‘This novel is a tour de force, delving into the pain and triumph of what it means to live an authentic life, driven by lush sensibility and artistry.’—Nafkote Tamirat, author of The Parking Lot Attendant

‘A devastating exploration of grief, beauty and desire. Salt Water Pool Boy is a compulsive reckoning with what it means to be alive and the lengths we must go to forgive ourselves. Fans of Alan Hollinghurst will adore Peter-Adrian Altini.’—Megan Clement, author of Desire Paths

ISBN: 978-0-6398626-5-1

Publication date: 14 May 2025

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PETER-ADRIAN ALTINI is a South African writer based in Paris. His screenplays have been optioned by production companies in the UK and his short stories have been published in the Fish Anthology (2019), Iron Horse Literary Review (2021), Storgy Magazine (2021), Fluid Anthology (Short.Sharp.Stories) and ADDA Literary Magazine (2023). He was the winner of the Ernst Van Heerden Creative Writing Award and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Salt Water Pool Boy is his debut novel.