"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Christina Schwarz's suspenseful debut pivots on two of the lost "virtues" of the past: silence and stoicism. Drowning Ruth opens in 1919, on the heels of the influenza epidemic that followed the First World War. Although there were telephones and motor cars and dance halls in the small towns of Wisconsin in those years, the townspeople remained rigid and forbidding. As a young woman, Amanda Starkey, a Lutheran farmer's daughter, had been firmly discouraged from an inappropriate marriage with a neighboring Catholic boy. A few years later, as a nurse in Milwaukee, she is seduced by a dishonorable man. Her shame sends her into a nervous breakdown, and she returns to the family farm. Within a year, though, her beloved sister Mathilde drowns under mysterious circumstances. And when Mathilde's husband, Carl, returns from the war, he finds his small daughter, Ruth, in Amanda's tenacious grip, and she will tell him nothing about the night his wife drowned. Amanda's parents, too, are long gone. "I killed my parents. Had I mentioned that?" muses Amanda.
I killed them because I felt a little fatigued and suffered from a slight, persistent cough. Thinking I was overworked and hadn't been getting enough sleep, I went home for a short visit, just a few days to relax in the country while the sweet corn and the raspberries were ripe. From the city I brought fancy ribbon, two boxes of Ambrosia chocolate, and a deadly gift... I gave the influenza to my mother, who gave it to my father, or maybe it was the other way around.Schwarz is a skillful writer, weaving her grim tale across several decades, always returning to the fateful night of Mathilde's death. Drowning Ruth displays her gift for pacing and her harsh insistence on the right ending, rather than the cheery one. --Regina Marler
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Apparently buckling under the strain of caring for wounded soldiers, Amanda retreats from her nursing job at the close of the First World War to her family's farm on a lake in rural Wisconsin, hoping that life with her beloved sister Mattie and her niece, three-year-old Ruth, will restore her. But very soon Amanda comes to see that her old home is no refuge; she has carried her troubles with her.Months later, Mattie's husband Carl returns from the war to find his wife mysteriously drowned and his daughter being raised by prickly and possessive Amanda. What happened the night Mattie died For years the consequences of that event reverberate, and the truth, when it is finally revealed, is both dramatic and extraordinarily moving. No. 1 New York Times bestseller: 'Powerful. Suspenseful. chilling' New York Times'Powerful. Suspenseful. Chilling' New York Times Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780747264651
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780747264651
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. BRAND NEW ** SUPER FAST SHIPPING FROM UK WAREHOUSE ** 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. Seller Inventory # 9780747264651-GDR
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Next day dispatch. International delivery available. 1000's of satisfied customers! Please contact us with any enquiries. Seller Inventory # mon0000319067
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 288 pages. 7.76x5.16x0.71 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0747264651
Book Description Condition: New. In. Seller Inventory # ria9780747264651_new
Book Description Condition: new. Seller Inventory # ce0655dff5ed1659a144258e5ead7312
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Same day/next day dispatch (mon-fri) all items checked before dispatch, Handled and sent out with care. Seller Inventory # mon0000265085
Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 6666-HCE-9780747264651
Book Description Condition: New. No. 1 New York Times bestseller: 'Powerful. Suspenseful. chilling' New York Times 'Powerful. Suspenseful. Chilling' New York Times Num Pages: 288 pages. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 200 x 130 x 22. Weight in Grams: 240. . 2001. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780747264651