Synopses & Reviews
An exhilarating literary mystery, Swimming Lessons keeps readers guessing until the final page.
Disenchanted by the life in which she’s found herself, Ingrid Coleman writes letters to her husband, Gil, about the truth of their passionate and troubled marriage. She hides them, unread, in the thousands of books Gil has collected over the years. Then she disappears from a Dorset beach, leaving behind her dilapidated house by the sea, her husband, and her two young daughters, Flora and Nan.
Twelve years later, Gil thinks he sees Ingrid from a bookshop window, but he’s getting older and his unlikely sighting is chalked up to senility. Flora, who has never believed Ingrid drowned, returns home to care for her father and investigate her mother’s disappearance. But what Flora doesn’t realize is that the answers to her questions are hidden in the books that surround her. Scandalous and smart, Swimming Lessons holds the Coleman family up to the light, exposing the mysterious truths of a turbulent marriage and the dangerous fault lines that remain.
Review
"A deeply moving read, with a mystery that keeps you turning pages." Oprah.com, Editor's Pick
Review
"Eloquent, harrowing, raw...sure to keep readers inching off their seats." Kirkus
Review
"Extraordinarily smart and psychologically shrewd...You will be kept guessing until the final penetrating sentence." Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife
Synopsis
Disenchanted by the life in which she's found herself, Ingrid Coleman writes letters to her husband, Gil, about the truth of their passionate and troubled marriage. She hides them, unread, in the thousands of books Gil has collected over the years. Then she disappears from a Dorset beach, leaving behind her dilapidated house by the sea, her husband, and her two young daughters, Flora and Nan.
Twelve years later, Gil thinks he sees Ingrid from a bookshop window, but he's getting older and his unlikely sighting is chalked up to senility. Flora, who has never believed Ingrid drowned, returns home to care for her father and investigate her mother's disappearance. But what Flora doesn't realize is that the answers to her questions are hidden in the books that surround her. Scandalous and smart, Swimming Lessons holds the Coleman family up to the light, exposing the mysterious truths of a turbulent marriage and the dangerous fault lines that remain.
About the Author
Claire Fuller’s debut novel, Our Endless Numbered Days won the Desmond Elliott Prize for Debut fiction in 2015. It was also a finalist in the ABA (American Booksellers Association) 2016 Indies Best Books Award. Her short stories have won the BBC Opening Lines competition and the Royal Academy / Pin Drop short story prize.
Claire Fuller on PowellsBooks.Blog
Unsettled Ground is about 51-year-old twins, Jeanie and Julius, who still live with their mother Dot in rural isolation and relative poverty in the English countryside. They don’t have a bank account, don’t have any qualifications, don’t own a car, and have very little access to technology...
Read More»