Synopses & Reviews
An adventurous debut novel that cross cuts between a competitive college swimmers harrowing days in the Rocky Mountains after a major airline disaster and her recovery supported by the two men who love heronly one of whom knows what really happened in the wilderness. Nineteen-year-old Avery Delacorte loves the water. Growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts, she took swim lessons at her community pool and captained the local team; in high school, she raced across bays and sprawling North American lakes. Now a sophomore on her universitys nationally ranked team, she struggles under the weight of new expectations but life is otherwise pretty good. Perfect, really.
That all changes when Averys red-eye home for Thanksgiving makes a ditch landing in a mountain lake in the Colorado Rockies. She is one of only five survivors, which includes three little boys and Colin Shea, who happens to be her teammate. Colin is also the only person in Averys college life who challenged her to swim her own events, to be her own personsomething she refused to do. Instead shes avoided him since the first day of freshman year. But now, faced with sub-zero temperatures, minimal supplies, and the dangers of a forbidding nowhere, Avery and Colin must rely on each other in ways they never couldve imagined.
In the wilderness, the concept of survival is clear-cut. Simple. In the real world, its anything but.
Review
“A powerful love story embedded in an action-packed tale of survival. Even as the characters are fighting for their lives, its impossible to turn away from the breathtaking range of emotion they reveal.” -Tracey Garvis-Graves, author of On the Island and Covet
Review
Praise for Girl Underwater
"Skillfully interspersing flashbacks with current events, debut novelist Kells has written an absorbing tale that will grip anyone who enjoys survival stories or psychological dramas." - Library Journal (starred review)
"Kells's visceral story is quite memorable and eminently readable." -- Publishers Weekly
"With its subzero temperatures that will make you reach for a blanket and a wounded but never weakened heroine, Kells' assured debut is a winner." -- Kirkus
"What if the most devastating moment of your life was also the beginning of something beautiful? Girl Underwater is a compelling coming-of-age love story that will have you rooting for its teen narrator, a girl who survives a disaster, and finds herself trapped between a traumatic past and a fragile future. Trust me--dive in!" -Jodi Picoult, New York Times Bestselling author of The Storyteller and Between the Lines
“A powerful love story embedded in an action-packed tale of survival. Even as the characters are fighting for their lives, its impossible to turn away from the breathtaking range of emotion they reveal.” -Tracey Garvis-Graves, author of On the Island and Covet
About the Author
Claire Kells was born and raised outside Philadelphia. She received a degree in English from Princeton University and a medical degree from the University of California. Currently in residency, she lives and works in the Bay Area. This is her first novel.