Books like The girl who stopped swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
Laurel Gray Hawthorne keeps her family's private history hidden, turning scraps of fabric into art quilts while supporting her mother’s secret skeleton. Her life is a portrait of suburban contentment—married, mothering, and gracefully running a Victorian‑styled home in Victorianna, South. The night a ghost arrives, she is forced to question the stability of her world. The spirit of 13‑year‑old Molly Dufresne leads Laurel to discover the inexplicable death of the real Molly, floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne backyard pool. With no one in the white‑washed neighborhood willing to investigate the tragedy, Laurel enlists her estranged sister Thalia, a brash actress who enjoys exposing hidden truths, to uncover the darkness that lies beneath the family’s smooth façade. The investigation unearths startling revelations about Laules’s guarded past, her marriage’s true nature, and the mystery of the girl who stopped swimming. The book blends Southern mystery, family secrets, and ghostly intrigue with Jackson’s trademark sharp dialogue and twist‑filled plotting.
First publish date: 2008
Genre: Mystery & Detective/Cozy Mystery
Authors: Joshilyn Jackson
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