Vorab-Rezensenten

Ruth Wasserman has always felt like an outsider in her Alabama town. Being a curly-haired Jewish girl amongst blonde Southern Baptists was never easy and, within her own family, she has always played second fiddle to her older brother—a star athlete and student who her parents adore. So when it came to college, she went as far away as you could get, attending the University of Michigan, a Yankee school that she hoped would open up a new world to her. But now she’s back home for the summer and though she may look like a new, wiser woman on the outside, she is struggling with low self-esteem after a dead-end relationship—and what could be the beginnings of a serious eating disorder. And now having experienced a world beyond her muggy, Kool-Aid soaked hometown, she feels even more removed from her family and friends. She’s hoping her usual summer job as a pool lifeguard and swim coach will center her again, but when a child almost drowns on her watch, she discovers that the repercussions will push her to confront long-ignored truths about her parents, her brother, and herself. Reader-favorite Zoe Fishman brings to life one woman’s Southern summer and beautifully shows how tragedy can make us stronger and that knowing who you are on the inside is our greatest strength.