The First Rule of Swimming
A woman must leave her island home to search for her missing sister-and confront the haunted history of her family. Magdalena does not panic when she learns that her younger sister has disappeared. A free-spirit, Jadranka has always been prone to mysterious absences. But when weeks pass with no...
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A woman must leave her island home to search for her missing sister-and confront the haunted history of her family. Magdalena does not panic when she learns that her younger sister has disappeared. A free-spirit, Jadranka has always been prone to mysterious absences. But when weeks pass with no word, Magdalena leaves the isolated Croatian island where their family has always lived and sets off to New York to find her sister. Her search begins to unspool the dark history of their family, reaching back three generations to a country torn by war.A haunting and sure-footed debut by an award-winning writer, The First Rule of Swimming explores the legacy of betrayal and loss in a place where beauty is fused inextricably with hardship, and where individuals are forced to make wrenching choices as they are swept up in the tides of history.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780316217385 (0316217387)
ASIN: 316217387
Publish date: May 28th 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Pages no: 336
Edition language: English
My Rating – 3 ¾ StarsMagdalena has lived in the Croatian island of Rosamarina her whole life, except for one year as a child and when she went to university. Her father died when she was a child and her mother, left her with her grandparents on the island. She’s very quiet and reserved and has no de...
[b:The First Rule of Swimming|15790880|The First Rule of Swimming|Courtney Angela Brkic|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352225480s/15790880.jpg|21512435] is the debut novel by author [a:Courtney Angela Brkic|142275|Courtney Angela Brkic|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1365356278p2/142275.jpg]. The ti...
This book reminded me of the "women's fiction" version of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena set in the Balkans instead of Chechnya. Both look at the role that twentieth century ethnopolitical warfare plays in the lives and relationships of civilians. Though the events of the books are very differen...
Read my full review: http://bit.ly/1c3okUNMy opinion: Loved this debut novel, particularly the sections written set in Croatia. There were almost poetic attributes to those sections. I thought that this was lost in the parts of the story written that were set in the US. Still a great debut novel. I ...
The First Rule of Swimming focuses on the relationship between sisters, Magdalena and Jadranka. Magdalena is close with her family and feels tied to their Croatian island home. Jadranka, on the other hand, has a wild spirit and flees from the restraints her home life has placed on her. When Jadranka...
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