Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke

Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke is a compelling story about life, family, secrets, jealousy, travel, and so much more. This is the type of story that will take you on a journey emotionally, and urge you to go out and discover your true self, too.

Book Description

“People go traveling for two reasons: because they are searching for something, or they are running from something.

Katie’s world is shattered by the news that her headstrong and bohemian younger sister, Mia, has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Bali. The authorities say that Mia jumped—that her death was a suicide.

Although they’d hardly spoken to each other since Mia suddenly left on an around-the-world trip six months earlier, Katie refuses to accept that her sister would have taken her own life. Distraught that they never made peace, Katie leaves her orderly, sheltered life in London behind and embarks on a journey to find out the truth. With only the entries in Mia’s travel journal as her guide, Katie retraces the last few months of her sister’s life and—page by page, country by country—begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death. . . .

Weaving together the exotic settings and suspenseful twists of Alex Garland’s The Beach with a powerful tale of familial love in the spirit of Rosamund Lupton’s Sister, Swimming at Night is a fast-paced, accomplished, and gripping debut novel of secrets, loss, and forgiveness.” – Swimming at Night

My Thoughts

Swimming at Night is a truly great story. I love how it is written with both of the sisters, Mia and Katie, and their experiences. Although it is sad, it is also a story about courage and breaking out of your comfort-zone to become someone you didn’t think you could be. I think that this is the biggest part of it that will make people relate to Katie, and truly remember her as one of those characters that sticks with you long after you finish reading her story.

This is the type of story that is highly captivating and could easily be read in a weekend (or night for you fast readers out there). The author alternates chapters with each of the sisters, making for a captivating read that you aren’t ever quite sure where it will take you.

I really enjoyed reading this novel, and look forward to reading more by Lucy Clarke in the future. I highly recommend it.

* Thank you to the publisher of Swimming at Night, Touchstone, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.