Drowning Ruth - Christina Schwarz

Apparently buckling under the strain of caring for wounded soldiers, Amanda retreats from her nursing job at the close of the First World War to her family's farm on a lake in rural Wisconsin, hoping that life with her beloved sister Mattie and her niece, three-year-old Ruth, will restore her. But very soon Amanda comes to see that her old home is no refuge; she has carried her troubles with her.

Months later, Mattie's husband Carl returns from the war to find his wife mysteriously drowned and his daughter being raised by prickly and possessive Amanda. What happened the night Mattie died? For years the consequences of that event reverberate, and the truth, when it is finally revealed, is both dramatic and extraordinarily moving.

Christina Schwarz's novels include the Oprah Book Club selection Drowning Ruth, which was an international bestseller. Born and raised in rural Wisconsin, USA, she lives in southern California.

'A gripping read' Choice magazine
Choice

'A compelling mystery' The Times
Play (The Times)

'Assured and dense debut...Schwarz's real achievement is in matching the complexities of her plot with vivid characters' The Scotsman
The Scotsman

'Austere, tense, painful and rewarding, this book keeps you reading until the vertebrae sulk - and the aftertaste has the bitterness of a linctus whose sharpness conveys its benefit' Frank Delaney
Frank Delaney

In [the] assured last stroke, Ms Schwarz affirms the psychological underpinnings of a book that would have worked page-turningly well as a straightforward mystery alone. She gives it the extra wisdom that marks DROWNING RUTH as the chilling, precociously good start to a bright new novelist's career
New York Times

'This is a book that really ought not to be missed' Sentinel Sunday
Sentinel Sunday

A strong sense of portent and unusually vivid characters distinguish this mesmerizing first novel about horrifying family secrets and nearly annihilating guilt. DROWNING RUTH is a complex and rewarding debut
Anita Shreve

A riveting first novel... A very suspenseful tale, one that will keep readers up shivering in the heat of an August night
USA Today

Quietly powerful prose and carefully nuanced description... Creates a satisfying fictional world. An engrossing debut from a writer to watch
Kirkus Reviews

The first sentence of this brilliantly understated psychological thriller leaps off the page and captures the reader's imagination...Schwarz deftly uses first-person narration to heighten the drama. Her prose is spare but bewitching, and she juggles the speakers and time periods with the surety of a seasoned novelist
Publishers Weekly

This unusually deft and assured first novel conveys a good deal more than thrills and chills
Time

The stars of DROWNING RUTH are the beautifully imagined lakes in summer and winter, the desolate farmhouse where Ruth grows up... The book offers ... more tender gifts
Washington Post

It remains gripping to the end
New York Post

A remarkable debut: surprising, unsettling and sure
New York Times Book Review

'It is not hard to see why DROWNING RUTH became a bestseller...Where many historical novels are weighed down by detail, DROWNING RUTH is drenched in the melancholic atmosphere of its setting...an intriguing story' New Statesman
New Statesman

'The compelling quality of Christina Schwarz's first novel, DROWNING RUTH, is quite unique' Independent
Independent

In [the] assured last stroke, Ms Schwarz affirms the psychological underpinnings of a book that would have worked page-turningly well as a straightforward mystery alone. She gives it the extra wisdom that marks DROWNING RUTH as the chilling, precociously good start to a bright new novelist's career
New York Times

A strong sense of portent and unusually vivid characters distinguish this mesmerizing first novel about horrifying family secrets and nearly annihilating guilt. DROWNING RUTH is a complex and rewarding debut
Anita Shreve

A riveting first novel... A very suspenseful tale, one that will keep readers up shivering in the heat of an August night
USA Today

Quietly powerful prose and carefully nuanced description... Creates a satisfying fictional world. An engrossing debut from a writer to watch
Kirkus Reviews

The first sentence of this brilliantly understated psychological thriller leaps off the page and captures the reader's imagination...Schwarz deftly uses first-person narration to heighten the drama. Her prose is spare but bewitching, and she juggles the speakers and time periods with the surety of a seasoned novelist
Publishers Weekly

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