Swimming for Sunlight

A Novel By Allie Larkin

When recently divorced Katie Ellis and her rescue dog Bark move back in with Katie’s grandmother in Florida, she becomes swept up in a reunion of her grandmother’s troupe of underwater performers—finding hope and renewal in unexpected places, in this sweet novel perfect for fans of Kristan Higgins and Claire Cook.

Aspiring costume designer Katie gave up everything in her divorce to gain custody of her fearful, faithful rescue dog, Barkimedes. While she figures out what to do next, she heads back to Florida to live with her grandmother, Nan.

But Katie quickly learns there’s a lot she doesn’t know about Nan—like the fact that in her youth Nan was a mermaid performer in a roadside attraction show, swimming and dancing underwater with a close-knit cast of talented women. Although most of the mermaids have since lost touch, Katie helps Nan search for her old friends on Facebook, sparking hopes for a reunion show. Katie is up for making some fabulous costumes, but first, she has to contend with her crippling fear of water.

As Katie’s college love Luca, a documentary filmmaker enters the fray, Katie struggles to balance her hopes with her anxiety and begins to realize just how much Bark’s fears are connected to her own, in this thoughtful, charming novel about hope after loss and friendships that span generations.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Swimming-for-Sunlight/Allie-Larkin/9781501198489

I grabbed this one at the library and it’s been a painful start. I had picked some books up from the library about mermaids. It’s summer and mermaids just seem like something fun to read about. I got one non-fiction novel and this was the other one that popped up concerning mermaids.

There are mental health issues, divorce, grief, trauma, miscarriage, and just a long slew of topics that all hit home like a ton of bricks. I found myself really relating to the main character well. And despite not connecting to others, finding something likable about them. This was one of those books that I wanted to marathon through yet I forced myself into a steady pace so that I could savor it.

I honestly may have to buy a copy of this book because it’s one of those types that I feel like I could read more than once. I’m still basking in the afterglow of finishing the book, but I really think the character development went really well through the novel. Let’s be honest, one of the main characters was a dog. That’s always a big seller for novels. The product details were:

• Best Sellers Rank: #815,470 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1,388 in Animal Fiction (Books)
  • #3,441 in Women’s Divorce Fiction
  • #8,616 in Women’s Friendship Fiction

I’ve never really read a book that fits into the genre of “Women’s Friendship” before, but it was pleasantly refreshing. I might need to branch out from my normal reading genres and pick a few more like this one. Do you ever like to venture outside your normal reading preferences?