THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING by Joshilyn Jackson
Joshilyn Jackson had written two books prior to her latest novel. They were GODS IN ALABAMA and BETWEEN, GEORGIA. They were good books, what you might describe as base hits if you are using a baseball metaphor. Now she has come out with THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING. It’s a home run.
In the past I always had a hard time with Jackson’s stories. I would start one of her books and would immediately think this is a loser. Still persistence would pay off and once I got into the story I had to finish it. This happened with GODS and BETWEEN.
I didn’t have any such trouble with THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING. The first line reads “Until the drowned girl came into Laurel’s bedroom, ghosts had never walked in Victorianna.” As soon as I read that, Jackson had me hooked and I stayed engrossed in the story until the last line had been read.
Jackson’s book is “Southern Gothic” in the modern age. There is nothing musty or misty about her story or her characters but there are ghostsand it does take place in the South. Laurel Hawthorne is a southern belle one generation removed from trailer trash. She and her sister Thalia never experienced the squalor in which their mother lived but they know the stories backwards and forward.
DeLop is the poor community where their mother was raised. Laurel goes back to the place at Christmas with her mother and plays “Lady Bountiful.” She has semi-adopted a girl named Bet from there. She brings her home several times a year to be a playmate to her daughter Shelby.
Bet is at her house when the ghost visits, and she is there when a body is found in their swimming pool. How the body got there; how the girl died; and what does Shelby know about it are all mysteries Laurel has to solve. Unable to handle this all by herself, she calls on her estranged sister Thalia. She knows that Thalia will relentlessly get to the bottom of all this.
The relationship between Laurel and Thalia is the core of the book. They are bound by blood but alienated by their personalities. Thalia is a free spirit while Laurel is a “by the rules” suburbanite. Thalia is married to a gay man while Laurel is married to a geek. Their lifestyles and their perspectives are as opposite as day and night, but when the drama gets too intense for either one they cling to each other.
Joshilyn Jackson is a southerner who knows of what she writes. She has the speech patterns, the outlooks, and even the climate down to perfection. The Florida landscape is as much a part of the story as are Laurel or Thalia.
For a neat little mystery story plus a lot of fascinating southern characters, read THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING. Jackson’s previous novels were just warm ups for this one. It is the best of the bunch and one that will stay in your mind for a long time to come.
THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING is published by Grand Central Publishing. It contains 311 pages and sells for $23.99.THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING by Joshilyn Jackson
Joshilyn Jackson had written two books prior to her latest novel. They were GODS IN ALABAMA and BETWEEN, GEORGIA. They were good books, what you might describe as base hits if you are using a baseball metaphor. Now she has come out with THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING. It’s a home run.
In the past I always had a hard time with Jackson’s stories. I would start one of her books and would immediately think this is a loser. Still persistence would pay off and once I got into the story I had to finish it. This happened with GODS and BETWEEN.
I didn’t have any such trouble with THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING. The first line reads “Until the drowned girl came into Laurel’s bedroom, ghosts had never walked in Victorianna.” As soon as I read that, Jackson had me hooked and I stayed engrossed in the story until the last line had been read.
Jackson’s book is “Southern Gothic” in the modern age. There is nothing musty or misty about her story or her characters but there are ghostsand it does take place in the South. Laurel Hawthorne is a southern belle one generation removed from trailer trash. She and her sister Thalia never experienced the squalor in which their mother lived but they know the stories backwards and forward.
DeLop is the poor community where their mother was raised. Laurel goes back to the place at Christmas with her mother and plays “Lady Bountiful.” She has semi-adopted a girl named Bet from there. She brings her home several times a year to be a playmate to her daughter Shelby.
Bet is at her house when the ghost visits, and she is there when a body is found in their swimming pool. How the body got there; how the girl died; and what does Shelby know about it are all mysteries Laurel has to solve. Unable to handle this all by herself, she calls on her estranged sister Thalia. She knows that Thalia will relentlessly get to the bottom of all this.
The relationship between Laurel and Thalia is the core of the book. They are bound by blood but alienated by their personalities. Thalia is a free spirit while Laurel is a “by the rules” suburbanite. Thalia is married to a gay man while Laurel is married to a geek. Their lifestyles and their perspectives are as opposite as day and night, but when the drama gets too intense for either one they cling to each other.
Joshilyn Jackson is a southerner who knows of what she writes. She has the speech patterns, the outlooks, and even the climate down to perfection. The Florida landscape is as much a part of the story as are Laurel or Thalia.
For a neat little mystery story plus a lot of fascinating southern characters, read THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING. Jackson’s previous novels were just warm ups for this one. It is the best of the bunch and one that will stay in your mind for a long time to come.
THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING is published by Grand Central Publishing. It contains 311 pages and sells for $23.99.