About Night Swim
• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Fiction Std (January 10, 2012)
Sixteen-year-old Sarah Kunitz lives in a posh, suburban world of 1970 Boston. From the outside, her parents’ lifestyle appears enviable – a world defined by cocktail parties, expensive cars, and live-in maids to care for their children – but inside their five-bedroom house, all is not well for the Kunitz family. Coming home from school, Sarah finds her well-dressed, pill popping mother lying disheveled on their living room couch. At night, to escape their parents’ arguments, Sarah and her oldest brother, Peter, find solace in music, while her two younger brothers retreat to their rooms and imaginary lives. Any vestige of decorum and stability drains away when their mother dies in a car crash one terrible winter day. Soon after, their father, a self-absorbed, bombastic professor begins an affair with a younger colleague. Sarah, aggrieved, dives into two summer romances that lead to unforeseen consequences. In a story that will make you laugh and cry, Night Swim shows how a family, bound by heartache, learns to love again.
“Night Swim is the deeply moving and devastatingly beautiful work of a fearless writer.” –Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants
“I loved this novel! It was just breathtaking…The pages ached.” –Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You
“This gripping first novel announces the arrival of a strong, distinct and fully evolved new voice.” –Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize winner, author of A Visit From the Goon Squad
About Jessica Keener
Jessica Keener has been listed in The Pushcart Prize under “Outstanding Writers.” Her fiction has appeared most recently in: Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, Night Train, and Wilderness House Literary Review. A recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist’s Grant Program, and second prize in fiction from Redbook magazine, her feature articles have appeared in The Boston Globe, Design New England, O, The Oprah Magazine and other national publications. Night Swim is her first novel. Visit her website: www.jessicakeener.com, and find her on Facebook and Twitter.
Jessica’s Tour Stops
Tuesday, January 10th: Books Like Breathing
Wednesday, January 11th: Elle Lit.
Thursday, January 12th: Reviews by Lola
Friday, January 13th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, January 17th: Coffee and a Book Chick
Wednesday, January 18th: Good Girl Gone Redneck
Thursday, January 19th: A Bookish Affair
Tuesday, January 24th: A Soul Unsung
Wednesday, January 25th: Boarding in My Forties
Thursday, January 26th: Sarah Reads Too Much
Monday, January 30th: Stephany Writes
Wednesday, February 1st: The Lost Entwife
Monday, February 6th: sidewalk shoes
Monday, February 13th: Reflections of a Bookaholic
Thursday, February 16th: Tina’s Book Reviews
Friday, February 17th: The Betty and Boo Chronicles
Monday, February 20th: Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, February 23rd: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Friday, February 24th: The House of the Seven Tails
Jessica Keener says
A huge thank you to all the blog/reviewers who participated in my Night Swim TLC Book Tour. I’m grateful for your time and attention to my debut. Warmest wishes, and happy reading! Jessica