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.