Jackie Friedland: Breathing Under Water Q&A with the Author

Jacqueline Friedland is the USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of both historical and contemporary women’s fiction. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and NYU Law School, she practiced as a commercial litigator for as long as she could stand it. She then returned to school to earn her Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College and has been writing ever since.

Friedland's upcoming book release, Breathing Underwater, introduces readers to Berry, a vice-principal and mother of a sixteen-year-old autistic son, and McKenna, a college swimmer at risk of losing her swimming scholarship, facing homelessness, while caring for her grandmother with dementia. As these two women's paths converge in the most unexpected way, they discover that sometimes the people who need saving the most are the ones who end up saving you.

Breathing Under Water is a deeply moving exploration of motherhood, sacrifice, and the extraordinary connections that emerge when we're brave enough to let others see our struggles.

We sat down with the author to discuss the release and the impact she hopes to make surrounding mental health conversations within and outside the collegiate athletics landscape.

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Can you share a little about your background and what motivated you to take the leap from working in litigation to pursuing an MFA?

I was an English major in college and loved spending my days studying literature. By late in my third year, with graduation looming, I was still at a loss for what I wanted to do next. I decided I might pursue a Ph.D. and become an English professor, but my advisor talked me out of it, emphasizing that the careers of professors were changing, thanks to the introduction of the brand-new internet. There were no guarantees what jobs would be like in the future, he warned me. (This was 1998, and here we are again now with AI!). It would be such hard work to get tenure, he said, and there might be new parts to the job I wouldn’t enjoy.

I felt pressure to choose a “safe” career path. Law school, my advisor suggested. Law school, my parents seconded. Law school, my friends agreed. I caved, but it was never my dream. Once I finished school and began actually practicing law, I realized it was a horrible mismatch. I was spending my days helping companies fight over money, and I hated it. As a way to maintain my sanity, I began writing in the little bits of spare time I could find. With each sentence I wrote, I realized more clearly how much joy I could find in creative writing. I tried to bridge the gap by teaching Legal Writing at a law school in Manhattan. It was better, but still didn’t quite fit the bill. After a few years of teaching, I decided it was time to commit to my passion or I was going to spend my life full of regrets. I left the law and went back to school at Sarah Lawrence College to get my MFA in creative writing, and I haven’t looked back since! 

How do you hope your work makes an impact regarding the important social and political topics through your books?

As someone who spends tons of time reading, I feel strongly that books have the power to spread empathy and to teach kindness, as well as many other important values. Being able to step into somebody else’s shoes through a well-told story allows people to connect with different types of people they might otherwise never be exposed to or think about. By seeing the world from their perspective, we can get new insights into joy, pain, and everything in between. In Breathing Under Water in particular, one of my main goals was to show how much pressure society puts on young people today, whether it’s getting into the right school, finding the right first job, or simply trying to live up to the images that others have of them. I think these are important social issues right now, and the more I can do to get people thinking about them, the more I feel I’m helping to push toward a path for change.

What was your inspiration for writing Breathing Under Water? How is the college athletics landscape that we see today reflected in the book?

Breathing Under Water was born when I heard two surprising statistics within days of each other. First, I read that over 40% of Americans don’t know how to swim, which felt like a shockingly big number. Then I randomly heard on the radio that 8% of American college students experience homelessness during their time in school. It seemed impossible to me, but it’s true. 

First, I started thinking about what a privilege it is to be able to swim. Then I began wondering about these college students, and the different ways a person in school could end up losing everything, including their home. While there are some students who are unhoused at the start of college, others, including students who look like they have everything going for them, can end up without adequate housing at any point during the college process, or feeling like they’re drowning in a host of other ways. 

I wanted to show just one person’s experience with that kind of pressure and lack of security, while also offering commentary about the contemporary pressure on young people generally. McKenna, the book’s main character, is a D1 swimmer at a fictional school on Long Island. She’s expected to get excellent grades, attend countless hours of practice, and complete community service hours, being a model teammate and friend at all times. There’s no space for her to have the personal issues that arise in her own life or to be anything less than perfect. At some point, it simply becomes too much.

The book includes a neurodivergent character, Leo, who people constantly underestimate. Instead of putting pressure on him to be the best, people don’t expect enough from him. Ultimately, he becomes the hero of the story. 

The book shows the importance of being able to look at people from new perspectives and of not judging others based on preconceived notions or only one aspect of who they are. Ultimately, the story highlights how crucial it is to let people take control of their own lives and make changes and choices in the ways that suit them best.

What is the central message you hope readers will take away from Breathing Under Water?

Breathing Under Water is meant to show how important it is to meet people where they are. We cannot foist our own goals and values onto others. Rather, we have to give people we care about the space to figure out, on their own, who they are and who they want to be.

What are some ways you take care of your mental health? Are there any coping strategies or relaxation techniques you have found particularly helpful? 

My favorite self-care activity is reading fiction. Escaping into a good story allows me to turn off my busy brain for a little while and just think about the characters and their drama instead of my own. There’s nothing I find more restorative than spending time with my husband and four mostly-grown children. I also love a quiet walk around my neighborhood or having a heart-to-heart with one of my dogs. It works!

What advice would you give to The Hidden Opponent’s student-athletes who are looking into starting their careers and are feeling unsure? 

I would tell student-athletes to choose a career based on something that excites them and not to let anyone talk them out of it. What I didn’t realize before choosing my own career is that to be good at any job requires hard work, and also that every profession includes tasks that are perhaps unglamorous or unappealing. So it doesn’t matter if someone tells you a particular job is hard work because guess what? If you want to be great at pretty much anything, you’re going to have to work hard. As for the tasks you don’t want to do, the classroom teacher who loves reading to her students still sometimes has to sweep the floor at the end of the school day. Find something you love, and all the rest will fall into place!