Admired southern storyteller, Joshilyn Jackson added yet another soon to be bestseller to her repertoire of extraordinary novels. Her first two novels, Gods In Alabama, and Between Georgia, were both critically acclaimed and her newest, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, will sure to be received just as well.
In Jackson’s latest novel, we meet Laurel Gray Hawthorne; artist, wife of David, mother of thirteen year old Shelby, sister to flamboyant, Thalia, and keeper of some very dark family secrets. Though it takes a ghost of a little girl to visit Laurel for her to begin remembering just what those secrets were that she’s carried with her for so long. When the ghost shows Laurel the body of her daughters friend floating in her pool, Laurel knows she doesn’t have the strength of mind to find out what happened to the little girl without the help of her iron-willed, eccentric, actress sister, Thalia. With some help from Thalia, and much to the chagrin of Laurel’s husband, Laurel (and the reader) begins to understand the truth of what occurred in their childhood. From there, the floodgates of the past come rushing in for Laurel and she knows that somehow her daughter is in great peril. What that peril is will have you gaping at the pages. This book is part murder mystery, ghost story and skeletons in the closet of this Deep in the Heart of Dixie family, and the Epilogue provides a fitting conclusion as well.
Readers that enjoyed Jackson’s first two novels will not be disappointed with this read. Jackson’s writing is natural and flowing, and her descriptions of everything from the family to the small town they live in are crisp and clear. After reading The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, you’ll be much anticipating Jackson’s next Southern Fried novel.
Reviewed by Bridget Colontonio
