The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Wheeler Hardcover) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Joshilyn Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2008 | Series: Wheeler Hardcover

Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother make sure the literal family skeleton stays in the closet or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties. While Laurel's life seems neatly on track--a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna--everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable--an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Richer and more rewarding than any story Joshilyn Jackson has yet written, yet still packed with Jackson's trademarked outrageous characters, sparkling dialogue, and defiantly twisting plotting, THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING is destined both to delight Jackson's loyal fans and capture a whole new audience.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jackson matches effortless Southern storytelling with a keen eye for character and heart-stopping circumstances. Laurel, a high-end quilt maker, sees the ghost of a little girl in her bedroom one night. When it leads her to the backyard and a dead girl in the swimming pool, the life Laurel had hoped to build in her gated Florida neighborhood with her video-game designer husband, David, and their tween daughter, Shelby, starts to fall apart. Though the police clear the drowning as accidental, it soon appears that Shelby and her friend Bet may have been involved. Bet, who lives in DeLop, Laurel's impoverished hometown, was staying over the night of the drowning and plays an increasingly important role as the truth behind the drowning comes to light. Meanwhile, Laurel's sister, Thalia, whose unconventional ways are anathema to Laurel's staid existence, comes to stay with the family and helps sort things out. Subplots abound: Laurel thinks David is having an affair, and Thalia reveals some ugly family secrets involving the death of their uncle. What makes this novel shine are its revelations about the dark side of Southern society and Thalia and Laurel's finely honed relationship, which shows just how much thicker blood is than water. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"...a great tale [that] builds to an exciting and violent ending, one that surprises and yet seems to fit."
-USA Today

"... buoyant and moving ....beautifully balanced between magical and realist fiction... closer in tone and voice to Alice Sebold's 'The Lovely Bones' or Richard Ford's Frank Bascombe trilogy."
-Atlanta Journal Constitution

"A ghost story, family psychodrama, and murder mystery all in one. Jackson's latest is a wild, smartly calibrated achievement. A-."
-Entertainment Weekly

"Jackson matches effortless Southern storytelling with a keen eye for character and heart-stopping circumstances."
-Publisher's Weekly

"Joshilyn Jackson has done it again... her skillful unraveling of family secrets and betrayal left me breathless. You must read this book!"
-Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 439 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (April 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1597226599
• ISBN-13: 978-1597226592
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (83 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,873,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joshilyn Jackson is the New York Times Bestselling author of three novels:
GODS IN ALABAMA
BETWEEN,GEORGIA, and
THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING.

She lives in a small town west of Atlanta with her husband, their two kids, a hound dog, 2 legally separated beta fish, a scurrilous kitten and a morbidly obese Main Coone cat named Franz Schubert.

Her fourth novel, BACKSEAT SAINTS, is forthcoming from Grand Central in spring of 2010.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intricate mystery, March 20, 2008

By 

Peggy Tibbetts (Silt, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Hardcover)

The ghost of a young girl shows up in Laurel's bedroom in the middle of the night. When she follows it to the window she sees the body of her 13-year old daughter's best friend, Molly floating face down in her swimming pool. Of course that would turn anyone's life upside down. But Laurel Hawthorne isn't just anyone. She's a professional quilt designer who has created an orderly life with her video game designer husband, David, among the meticulous homes and gardens of their Victorianna subdivision. There is no room in their lives for this tragedy.

Yet Laurel is haunted, not only by the dead girl but also by her daughter Shelby's reaction, and her friend Bet who was staying over at the time. Bet Clemmons is Laurel's do-gooder project, a young girl she has rescued from dregs of society in the washed up little mining town of DeLop, which represents all that is unholy in her life. As a trained artist, Laurel knows there's something wrong with this picture. But up till now her whole life has been about burying secrets, not digging them up.

In order to get to the bottom of this inconvenient mystery, Laurel calls on her estranged sister Thalia. The polar opposite of Laurel, Thalia is a flamboyant actress and the keeper of secrets. Laurel knows she can get Thalia to do the dirty work. What she doesn't know is what that will cost her in the end.

Joshilyn Jackson's vivid characters and spellbinding prose - you can almost hear the drawl and smell the earthiness - weave a tale as intricate and fascinating as one of Laurel's quilts. Jackson takes readers on a journey past the façades of flower gardens, swimming pools, and Wal-Mart, through the crumbling asphalt and broken dreams of lives in the rural South, to uncover the mystery of "The Girl Who Stopped Swimming".

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Bestseller!, February 26, 2008

By 

Dee - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Hardcover)

Once again, Joshilyn Jackson has written an incredible book!

From the first page, where a ghost appears to lead Laurel to a dead body in her pool, I was hooked. The story held me through sister squabbles, family strife, marriage drama, and a murder mystery. And through all of that finely tuned plot, there was the voice of Ms. Jackson, with her sweet Southern drawl, telling me all of the deep, dark secrets inside of Laurel's surface perfect life.

Truly, this book will be a bestseller!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This novel is stitched up to perfection!, May 25, 2008

By 

Nina (Nashville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Hardcover)

Like others, this is my first book by Jackson, and I too hope she gets a larger readership because this was a great novel. Like Laurel's quilts, Jackson has sewn it all down to perfection here: dazzling characters, humor, pathos, a plot that you probably will not figure out the ending to (why try anyway is always my motto), and wonderful contrast in settings between Victoriana and DeLop.

And, since I had just come off a darker Eliz. George novel, I especially liked a happy ending where every i was dotted, all questions answered, and even an epilogue. I love epilogues. Why have open endings - I'm paying to have the author write the book - not me! Then if I don't like the ending I can discuss that in my book club or not read another book by that author.

I promise you this is a page-turning mystery that you will enjoy, and I don't make many promises.