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Interesting,
Dark,
Dramatic

2 reviews

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
by Joshilyn Jackson

Published: 2008-03-04
Hardcover : 320 pages
3 members reading this now
16 clubs reading this now
6 members have read this book
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 ...
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Introduction

(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.

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Member Reviews

Overall rating:
 
 
by laura e. (see profile) 12/09/21

 
by Megan R. (see profile) 12/17/19

 
by Tonya C. (see profile) 05/31/18

 
  "Southern Gothic"by F Tessa B. (see profile) 08/14/12

Audio book narrated by the author. This is a modern-day Southern Gothic novel, full of wonderfully eccentric characters, as well as family secrets, dark undercurrents of poverty, alcohol ab... (read more)

 
  "Not recommended!"by carrie s. (see profile) 04/14/11

My book group read this and it was almost painful. It is slow and full of pointless information. I was so grateful to have finished it and it was over. No one really enjoyed it.

 
  "Another wonderful book by Joshilyn Jackson!"by Jennifer D. (see profile) 08/17/08

I loved this newest book by Joshilyn Jackson. Unexpected turn of events. Full of little plot twists and turns that Jackson is so good at! This was a page turner...I read this book in two days!

 
  "I enjoyed this book, but feel some in our book club would not relate to it."by Cindy K. (see profile) 07/15/08

The story is a mystery of a young girl drowning, but along
the way we discover there are other unresolved mysteries that need to be explored. I love the way Joshilyn Jackson writes
her st

... (read more)

 
  "interesting book with unusual turn of events."by Amy M. (see profile) 07/01/08

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