The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

I have talked about Joshilyn Jackson before (see here and here and here- i practically know her - her best friend, Lydia, is one of mine - so see? one degree of separation! and i tried the - hmm - what was it called? oh yes, lizard brain/shangri la diet that she and lydia were doing...well, for about 10 minutes, anyway.

so, i get to talk about her again! partly b/c she's an author i adore, and also because the girls over at Dee's Book Dish (dee and dee) are having a contest. and i'm entering - see me here? yes, that's me, entering the contest. go check out their site! you too can enter to win THE GIRL WHO STOPPED SWIMMING!!!

About the book (from the author's own website)

Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother make sure the very literal family skeleton stays buried or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties. While Laurel's life seems neat and on track--a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna--everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 14-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne.

The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable--an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

would you like to know something else that is so cool about this book? joshilyn (who is also a member of an outlandishly cool online quilting group of which i am also a member - dude, that sentence structure was just ick) chatted with the amazing Pamela Allen, some magic happened and Pamela made Laurel's wedding quilt because Laurel, like Pamela, is an art quilter!! i got to meet pamela in the flesh when we went to Lydia's for our Virginia adventure. pamela was teaching at Quilting Adventures (if you ever find yourself in Richmond, Virginia, do yourself a favor and GO THERE!!! Joyce has a beautiful store with wonderful fabrics - it's a joy of a store to visit and buy and fondle fabricses). it was wonderful to meet her. wayyyyy back when rhys was born, we had a photo shoot that included a baby in bowl shot. Pamela made a quilt from this and when we moved to sparks (during a low low time for me), she sent us the quilt as a housewarming gift. it's wonderful and beloved in our home. i'm including pictures of it too.

the whole quilt - doesn't it totally rock?

detail of rhys' face and hair

an eye

leaves -- i thought i got a picture of the key too, but i guess i didn't.

so - i suggest you go to Joshilyn's website and peruse her blog and her books and then buy them - and go to Pamela's site and enjoy and yes, she too has some of her fabulous quilts for sale and go to Dee's Book Dish as well :D it's fun to visit new places!!!