The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

Author and actress Joshilyn Jackson skillfully delivers the unique Alabama accents and unusual idioms of the characters in her novel. Model wife and mom Laurel copes with a neighbor's drowning in Laurel's swimming pool and with her own bizarre past, which has embarrassing links to relatives in a poverty-stricken Alabama town. It looks as if her own "tween" daughter, Shelby, and a young visitor from Laurel's hometown may have had something to do with the drowning. With the aid of her flighty sister, an actress, the truth about the drowning, the past, and the present comes to light. Jackson's effortless reading and delightful characterizations make these characters likable despite the fact that Laurel and company show remarkably little grief and horror following the drowning. J.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

October 29, 2007
Jackson matches effortless Southern storytelling with a keen eye for character and heart-stopping circumstances. Laurel, a high-end quilt maker, sees the ghost of a little girl in her bedroom one night. When it leads her to the backyard and a dead girl in the swimming pool, the life Laurel had hoped to build in her gated Florida neighborhood with her video-game designer husband, David, and their tween daughter, Shelby, starts to fall apart. Though the police clear the drowning as accidental, it soon appears that Shelby and her friend Bet may have been involved. Bet, who lives in DeLop, Laurel’s impoverished hometown, was staying over the night of the drowning and plays an increasingly important role as the truth behind the drowning comes to light. Meanwhile, Laurel’s sister, Thalia, whose unconventional ways are anathema to Laurel’s staid existence, comes to stay with the family and helps sort things out. Subplots abound: Laurel thinks David is having an affair, and Thalia reveals some ugly family secrets involving the death of their uncle. What makes this novel shine are its revelations about the dark side of Southern society and Thalia and Laurel’s finely honed relationship, which shows just how much thicker blood is than water.

May 26, 2008
Laurel, the center of Jackson's emotionally taut third novel, has a seemingly picture-perfect life, but when her daughter's best friend accidentally drowns in their pool and appears to Laurel in spirit form, things unravel quickly. Jackson's honey-sweet tones heat up into panic and confusion as everything Laurel depends on falls away. While set in the languid deep South, the pace is rapid. Jackson's reading keeps things brisk without going too swiftly. Jackson's excellent reading allows characters' voices to reveal much about their histories and personalities: Laurel's gentle but determined manner, her outrageously funny sister's sarcasm, the thick drawl of an impoverished girl visiting from Alabama. A brief interview with Jackson at the end offers some insight into the book's genesis and development and into her writing habits. Simultaneous release with the Grand Central hardcover (Reviews, Oct. 29).

November 15, 2007
On the heels of the successful "Gods in Alabama"and "Between, Georgia"both #1 BookSense picksJackson again reinvents the GRITS" "Girls Raised in the South) novel. Quilt artist Laurel, her game programmer husband, David, and their 13-year-old daughter, Shelby, lead a seemingly charmed life in a serene Florida suburb. But when the ghost of a drowned girl awakens Laurel, the veneer of that life seems ready to crack beyond repair. Can Laurel trust her flamboyant, outspoken sister, Thalia, to help as old family secrets emerge with dizzying speed? With the appearance of a ghost on the first page, you'll feel compelled to race to the end, but slow down for Jackson's great descriptionsyou'll be rewarded for the effort. Jackson illuminates not just the complexities of family love as a source of safety and support but also the complexities of danger and death. The life-affirming epilog provides satisfying closure; libraries will want to own all three novels. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ"11/15/07.]Rebecca Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2007
The third novel by the author of Gods in Alabama (2005) explores the complicated relationship between a woman and her family, both blood and chosen. Laurel Hamilton lives with her husband, David, and their 13-year-old daughter, Shelby, in upscale Victorianna, Florida, but her comfortable world is torn apart when Molly, one of her daughter's friends, is found dead in the Hamiltons? pool in the dead of night. Laurel fears the girl's death wasn?t accidental, and her daughter's shell-shocked reaction makes Laurel determined to find out what exactly happened to Molly. She butts heads with David when she goes to get her vivacious, unpredictable sister, Thalia, to help her find out if a shifty neighbor may have been involved. But Thalia's arrival dredges up family ghosts, forcing Laurel to confront demons from her past as well as those in her present. A veritable southern gothic, Jackson's fluid, masterful novel builds to an exciting, if somewhat over-the-top finish that at last weaves together Laurel's past and her present.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)