Review: The First Rule of Swimming, Courtney Angela Brkic

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*

Magdalena does not panic when she learns that her younger sister has disappeared. A free-spirit, Jadranka has always been prone to mysterious absences. But when weeks pass with no word, Magdalena leaves the isolated Croatian island where their family has always lived and sets off to New York to find her sister. Her search begins to unspool the dark history of their family, reaching back three generations to a country torn by war.

Courtney Angela Brkic is the author of The First Rule of Swimming (Little, Brown, and Company, 2013), Stillness: and Other Stories (FSG, 2003) and The Stone Fields (FSG, 2004). Her work has also appeared in Zoetrope, The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, Harpers & Queen, the Utne Reader, TriQuarterly Review, The Alaska Review and National Geographic, among others. Brkic has been the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Whiting Writer’s Award. She lives outside of Washington, DC, with her husband and son, and teaches in the MFA program at George Mason University.

I love books filled with family secrets where one generation slowly unravels those of previous generations. This book is filled with secrets like that but also with something mystical. There is a connection between people in this family that just jumps of the page building an atmosphere around you. It was not difficult to get a taste of the special way living on such a secluded island. Especially Lukes stories and the stories on Magdalena's childhood helped a lot with that. It is easy to connect to these people and see the live trough their eyes.It was also pretty clear which characters you where to like and which ones not by the way they where set up.
It is a story though, where not everything is told, only those things that are important for development and setting the right atmosphere. Thus leaving me with various questions after reading. Still I would like to grab a plane and boat and spent some time there

The First Rule of Swimming
Author: Courtney Angela Brkic
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
ISBN-10: 0316217379
ISBN-13: 9780316217378
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Little, Brown and Company: eBook | Hardcover