Drowning Ruth (Oprah's Book Club)

Reviews / Votes

'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 *