The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

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.

I bought this book on a whim and was not even interested in it. It ended up being one of the best books I've read all year. I loved it. I thought the storyline was very well thought out and the characters were great people who had very distinct personalities, and believable at that. The twists and turns were always very well done. I highly recommend it. Anyone who enjoys Jodi Picoult will enjoy this book in my opinion

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".

Ms. Jackson recently explained at her Margaret Mitchell house appearance that she "likes to put all her characters in a room and set fire to one of them." In this case it's Laurel, a 30ish mother and housewife who lives in a pleasant Panhandle McSuburbia when the ghost of her daughter's best friend visits her bedroom one sultry night. This rocks her world enough to spur her to reach out to her older sister Thalia to protect her own daughter Molly in the police investigation and ensuing neighborhood microscope. Thalia has the gift of sniffing out a situation and turning it on it's head, something that eludes Laurel. With flashbacks and in dialouge it's revealed that Thalia and Laurel grew up far from the life Laurel currently enjoys and Ms. Jackson expertly sucks you in and makes you bond with her characters. Do yourself a favor-buy this one for yourself, your girlfriends and your sisters and share the joy of a tale well told!

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!