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The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
 
 
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The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: drowned girl, keeping room, tea cart, Joshilyn Jackson, Stan Webelow, Bet Clemmens (more...)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)

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Frequently Bought Together

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming + Gods in Alabama + Between, Georgia
Price For All Three: $33.17

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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.


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.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 4, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0446579653
  • ISBN-13: 978-0446579650
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #221,831 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

More About the Author

Joshilyn Jackson
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Visit Amazon's Joshilyn Jackson Page

Inside This Book (learn more)

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Customer Reviews

62 Reviews
5 star:
 (31)
4 star:
 (18)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (62 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
19 of 20 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
(REAL NAME)      
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".
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Bestseller!, February 26, 2008
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!
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9 of 10 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
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Liked the book but, still have unanswered questions
I just happened to pick up this book not familiar with the author or any of her other books. I liked the different personalities she portrayed in the book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by K. Lundgren

3.0 out of 5 stars i had high expectations...
...but this book didn't hold up. After the tour de force of Between, Georgia and the incredible Gods of Alabama, I expected more from this gifted author. Read more
Published 1 month ago by readaholic

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book
I've read a couple other books written by this author and she is a new favorite of mine. I'm happy to say I was not disappointed in this book. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Debra L. Williams

1.0 out of 5 stars The girl who stopped swimming
This book was a big disappointment....Gods in Alabama was much better written and at least a compelling story. I kept waiting for this book to improve... Read more
Published 2 months ago by H. Newman

2.0 out of 5 stars ending doesn't fit the story
It's important to realize that this story is not about solving a murder. It is about the characters changing and growing as a result of a child's death. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tena

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story with a great twist.
The girl who stopped swimming starts by describing how Laurel used to see the ghost of her uncle Marty who was killed by her own father in a hunting accident. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Emily Braun

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT summer read!
This book sucked me in from the very first page. I wasn't sure how I'd take to the supernatural element, with the ghosts and all, but it's so subtle that it's almost believable... Read more
Published 2 months ago by IEatBooks4Breakfast

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
Interesting Read, yet easy. Hard to put down, as you want to know the next twist on the bit of a mystery it holds. Really enjoyed this for a summer time read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by LJ

4.0 out of 5 stars A New Favorite Author
I was expecting merely a light read, but this novel is dark and chewy and wonderful. You are really drawn into the Southern gothic world of Laurel and her sister Thalia. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Someone's Mom

5.0 out of 5 stars What Lies Beneath A Marriage? Find Out By Reading This Sensational Mystery
A tragedy jump starts a life-changing sequence of events that force the main character, Laurel, to look at her past and present to decide if she is living the life she wants. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Claudine Wolk

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