Swim Back to Me

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Description

Ann Packer, author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Dive from Clausen's Pier and Songs Without Words, brings us a collection of burnished, emotionally searing stories. Shimmering with psychological precision and unfailing intelligence, Swim Back to Me is Packer's most enticing work yet. Ann Packer is one of our most talented observers of family life, with its hidden crevasses and unforeseeable perils. In these unforgettable, emotionally searing stories, she explores the moral predicaments that define our lives, the frailty of ordinary grace, and the ways in which we are shattered and remade by loss.

Reviews

Stunning. . . . Packer can break your heartand she can mend it, too. O, The Oprah Magazine

A tour de force. . . . With this collection, Ann Packer takes her place among todays best authors of literary fiction. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

[Packers] patient investigations reveal human longing in such clear, stripped-down familiaritynever shirking from the difficultthat readers experience a singular sense of comfort. San Francisco Chronicle

Exhilarating. . . . Searing. . . . [Packers] stories brim with piercing vitality and clear-eyed believability. The Washington Post

Packer paints these lives with full and compassionate brush strokes. The New York Times Book Review

As audacious, imaginative and poignant as any of [Packers] previous work. . . . Packer can compress a lifetime of hope and sorrow in a short story, and in a brief paragraph can suggest the unspoken language of marriage and family. The Miami Herald

Wonderful. . . . [A] lovely, masterful collection. The Boston Globe

Ann Packers Swim Back to Me reminded me of why I fell in love with literature in the first place. Upon closing the book, I thought, Ill read this again. . . . Packers stories stick with you. Susan Bale, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Packer . . . is a master at getting to the heart of characters struggling on in the face of loss. . . . Swim Back to Me is best enjoyed for Packers sharply focused snapshots of people at pivotal points in their lives, a focus so intense that we can feel as if were spying on them. St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[Beginning] Packers stories feels as nonchalant as stepping into a puddle but results in a sudden plunge into deep water. . . . Potent and deftly written. Dallas Morning News

An author who speaks with her full voice. . . . The people in Packers stories are so possible and so familiar, reading about them is like flipping through a photo album with someone youve always known. San Francisco magazine

Anyone intrigued by the ways we both fail and save one another will find ample food for thought here. People

Deeply engrossing. . . . Illuminates the instant, in the darkest hour of grief, when the heart opens wider than ever beforeand shows us a new way of being. More

Gripping. . . . A stunning look into how we learn and sometimes fail to live with each other. The Daily Beast

Touching, tender and true. The Austin American Statesman

Utterly readable. . . . Ann Packer has a talent for creating authentic, absorbing characters. Ladies Home Journal

A keen observer of family dynamics. . . . Packer the novelist is equally adept at the short form. The Oakland Tribune

Packers descriptions of what crisis looks like from the inside out are almost always word-perfect. Toledo Blade

Subtle, deeply personal. . . . [An] excellent collection. Bookreporter.com

Powerful . . . satisfying. . . . Packers characters are fully developed with emotions that feel authentic. BookPage

Author Bio

Ann Packer is the author of two best-selling novels, Songs Without Words and The Dive from Clausen's Pier, the latter of which received a Great Lakes Book Award, an American Library Association Award, and the Kate Chopin Literary Award. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, Vogue, and Real Simple. Also the author of Mendocino and Other Stories, she lives in northern California with her family.