{"id":2902,"date":"2017-03-28T19:47:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T14:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fableandi.com\/?p=2902"},"modified":"2020-03-05T17:21:59","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T11:51:59","slug":"swimming-lessons-by-claire-fuller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebooksatchel.com\/swimming-lessons-by-claire-fuller\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller – A New Favourite This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
Swimming Lessons<\/em> is the dissection of a marriage through a series of letters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Novels are unexplainable creatures, they sometimes gain your admiration because of the way the story develops and sometimes they make you fall in love with the character sketches. Then there are other novels that attract you by the pace of storytelling. When I finished Swimming Lessons, I was extremely pleased to note that Claire Fuller has succeeded in all the three aspects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The novel captures your attention from the first pages. Gil, a novelist, happens to see his wife Ingrid, who disappeared in a drowning incident many years ago. He follows her, has a fall and ends up in a hospital. His two daughters, Nanette and Flora, take charge of the house and his health. Thereon we see a story that reveals the intricacies in a marriage and the secrets that are revealed in a series of letters.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The novel has a clever structure and it alternates between the past and the present; the past through the letters Ingrid leaves for her husband and the present mostly through the younger daughter, Flora\u2019s viewpoint. It was heartwarming to read how well Ingrid knew her children \u2013 that Nanette would take up a mother-role in the household and Flora would be Daddy\u2019s darling. At the same time it is sad because what she predicted came true and not what she hoped for.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nReview<\/h3>\n