How Not to Drown

Name: How Not to Drown
Brand: Dreamscape Media
Availability: InStock
Author: Jaimee Wriston
ISBN: 9781666538403

Author: Jaimee Wriston

Narrator: Hillary Huber

Unabridged: 11 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Dreamscape Media

Published: 05/11/2021

Categories: Fiction, Family Life, Small Town & Rural, Women

Synopsis

Amelia MacQueen has lost her favorite son, Gavin, to a suspicious drowning, for which her daughter-in-law has been convicted, and she’s been awarded temporary custody of her twelve-year-old daughter, Heaven, who she reluctantly takes in. The daughter of drug addicts, who has long been left to her own devices, Heaven does not appreciate her grandmother’s constant critical ministrations, and the pair quickly butt heads. She instead bonds with Uncle Daniel, Amelia's agoraphobic older son who never leaves his bedroom. Through the wall between their rooms, Daniel spins Celtic tales for Heaven from the Isle of Skye, where the family's ancestors lived. Heaven decides that the best way to deal with bullying at school is to become a siren from one of those stories. She sings drowning songs in the swim-team pool, luring mean girl Bethany Harrison under at the deep end. Then, Amelia comes home one day to find her granddaughter serving Oreos to the cops who picked her up for snaking junk food from the neighborhood. As much as Amelia loved her son, Heaven is the last thing she would have asked for, but when Heaven goes missing during a dangerous storm one night, Amelia is forced to reexamine her outlook on family. In vivid prose, Jaimee Wriston tells a wry multi-generational tale of redemption, exploring the bonds that make and break a family and the transformative power of storytelling.

About Jaimee Wriston

Jaimee Wriston is an award-winning author who also writes under her full name, Jaimee Wriston Colbert. A recipient of awards such as the Willa Cather Fiction Prize, the Zephyr Prize, the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award, and the CNY Book Award in Fiction, she was recently awarded the 2018-2019 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. Originally from Hawai'i, she is a professor of creative writing at SUNY, Binghamton University.

About Hillary Huber

"Hillary has recorded close to 700 audiobooks spanning many genres. She is a multiple Audie Award finalist, multiple Earphone Award winner, Voice Arts Awards winner and one of Audiofile Magazine's best voices. Hillary has a BA in English Literature and is a voracious reader and listener. Likes: yoga, hip hop dancing, baking sourdough, bourbon. Dislikes: liver. Raised in conservative Connecticut and hippy Hawaii, Hillary now splits her time between Santa Monica and New York. Most of that time is in a 4x4 padded room. Er...booth. Her superpower is reciting the alphabet backwards. Created with WordToHTML.net trial."

Reviews

Goodreads review by Joyce on February 01, 2021

The Raw Purpose of Life The characters and their names, the settings, the intrusion of Scottish history and the meticulous plot create an almost perfect novel. Wriston populates the storyline with interesting names. One of the main characters is Amelia MacQueen, a grandmother, who prefers to be called......more

Goodreads review by Natalie on January 03, 2021

This novel deals with a family, reconstructed, after tge death of Gavin, husband, father and son. He has left a daughter, Heaven who is now totally alone since her mother is in prison for the murder of her father. It is her grandmother, Amelia, who becomes her guardian. However, this family wins the......more

Goodreads review by Linda on May 10, 2021

Listening to the audiobook How Not To Drown by Jaimee Wriston I was pretty sure I did not like anyone in it. Slowly it changed for me. It wasn't that they changed as much as I started to understand the reasons for their personality defects and the brilliance of the author's writing. Amelia is 70 year......more

Goodreads review by Courtney on February 03, 2021

This one was so great. I was left with chills at the finish. The combination of these excruciatingly flawed family characters, the perilous history of the family, the fables of the sea; all called to me. I thought this book positively stunning and achingly beautiful, as much as it was filled with gr......more

Goodreads review by Renee on September 27, 2021

The basic premise/story in this book was good: Family dynamics, addiction issues, child neglect (emotionally as well as in other ways), and mental health issues. What I didn't get was the whole Scottish clearance references and the selkie/seal tie in. (I noted the author's family history, but still,......more