The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

by:  Joshilyn Jackson
published by:  Grand Central Publishing
publish date:  May 26, 2009

While Laurel's life seems neatly on track-- a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, a lovely suburban home-- everything she holds dear is threatened the night she is visited by the ghost of her 13-year-old neighbor Molly. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly, floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is an unseemly mystery that no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Laurel enlists her sister, Thalia's help, even though she knows it comes with a high price tag. 

Together, they set out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about their family's haunted past, the true state of Laurel's marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

I haven't made any secret of being a Joshilyn Jackson fangirl.  I've read recent releases so when I found this older book for audio download at the library, I was pretty happy.   A bonus surprise was that it was read by Joshilyn Jackson.  She does a fantastic job. 

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming was just as fantastic as her newer books.  I listened to the author interview at the end and I was really surprised to learn that it took 15 years to write from idea to finish.  That gives me hope that all the story ideas kicking around in my head might actually get down on paper some day.

In the beginning of this book I was really frustrated with both Thalia and Laurel for assuming each other's life was less than perfect.  Thalia was making me mad because she kept belittling Laurel for being a housewife like that made her less than a whole person.  These differences do eventually resolve themselves to some degree, but I was an interesting dynamic in the book.

Quilters take note: Laurel is a quilter and she makes some really bizarre quilts.  I would be very interested to see what some of them actually look like in real life.  I was curious to know what her inspiration was for them.  I could see Thalia making quilts described in the book, but it seemed strange for Laurel.

Bottom line, definitely recommend for the chick lit fans, Southern fiction fans, and the mystery lovers.  I have one JJ book to go and I almost don't want to read it so my journey won't be over.