Published By: Prospect Pack
Pages: 352
Released On: 13/06/2023 (Kindle); 27/07/2023 (Hardback)
It’s June 2012. The magical and slightly cultish River Run swim club is alive with the spirit of fun competition when a perfect storm brews between team moms and best friends, Gillian Cloud and Kristy Weinstein. The ghost of family addiction has turned up, looming over their carefully planned pasta parties, tie-dye nights, and pep rallies, forcing them to face their unresolved childhood trauma.
Gillian responds by trying to control everyone around her, while Kristy relapses into her dangerous addiction to love. Real sparks fly on the night of the derecho—a freak land hurricane—which sweeps through Northern Virginia, knocking out power for days. The storm ignites a tinder box of secrets, leaving Gillian and Kristy alone in the hot dark—their shame their only company.
At times humorous and devastating, Swimming with Ghosts is a hauntingly dark, yet uniquely tender story of the various entrapments of addiction and lingering trauma, and what it takes to overcome our hidden legacies of disgrace and discover a once unimaginable freedom made possible by confronting life’s greatest storms with the people closest to us.
*****
Thanks to Michelle Blankenship at Blankenship PR for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
For me, this was a great satire, with great insights into American characters. That’s not to say they’re always good characters. Some are very unlikeable. But they’re fabulously created. My love of character development over plot is really felt here. Yes there’s plot, but for me, it’s the intricacies of the people that holds my attention.
You can tell that Michelle Brafman has experience with professional swimming, she has this knowledge and this passion that exudes from the page.
It’s a world I am not familiar with – professional swimming and swim meets etc. And so some of it was lost on me in terms of specifics, but the excitement helps buoy you along. Who knew it would be filled with such drama?!
It was fascinating to see the generational problems and trauma and expectations on the next generation. I loved seeing the dynamics between the parents and their children, trying to keep secrets from them, but in doing so, they open themselves up to even more questions. And you can almost count down to when things are going to erupt.
It may not immediately strike you as a twisty thriller, but there are definitely elements of it. It’s full of darkness and secrets and deception, and it drags you right down with it.
There were, on occasion, times where it felt a bit…bogged down by detail, shall we say. Not enough to overly affect the reading or lesson my opinion on it, but it did lose its way a couple of times in terms of pacing.
The formatting in my digital copy was a little off, but I’m sure that’ll be sorted by the final copy. It just meant I had to concentrate a little more. And to be honest, that may not be a bad thing, as it meant I really had to give more time for the story, as I’m guilty – like most people I imagine – of skim reading sometimes, and then you don’t always get 100% of the words, and I felt in this story, that was important.
It’s got lots of short chapters, and if you’ve read my reviews before, you’ll know I prefer short chapters. And I think that actually plays to the story’s strength as it makes it more fast-paced and choppy.
It is a hard read at times. It’s very raw and honest. It’s probably not one I’d suggest you take on your beach holiday. It’s one that requires concentration. And at times I even found it difficult to read. Whether that’s more about the book or about me as a reader I don’t know. But I’d still recommend it for anyone who wants a thoughtful piece to ponder.
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