The Sign for Drowning: A Novel

by Rachel Stolzman

Book Overview

Anna has grown up haunted by her younger sister's death. In the life she constructs as a barrier against the emotional wreckage of her family tragedy, Anna settles comfortably into a career as a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590305876
• ISBN13: 9781590305874
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: Trumpeter
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.1" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Deep emotion, beautifully expressed

Rachel Stolzman's first novel is captivating. In her straightforward writing, she acutely describes the far reaching drama of Megan's drowning, and then draws the reader into the personal pain of her characters. The major themes of loss, grief and emotional abandonment are well developed as Stolzman shows how tragic events shape the lives of Megan's parents and sister, Anna. But it's as the magical connection between Anna and her adopted daughter, Adrea, is explored that her book turns into a tender love story. You can feel their unbreakable bond as they grow together and create their shared sense of family.

Hands reach out, fingers touch.

Review: The Sign For Drowning By Rachel Stolzman Trumpeter, 2008 There are people who have yet to experience a large loss, who have yet to be given over to grief. They have yet to learn about enduring and re-entering into life. This novel provides several insights into what they will need for that task. Rachel Stolzman's heroine, Anna, witnesses the unexpected loss of her younger sister as she disappears into the ocean surf, and the frantic searching by her parents to find and save little Megan. Each of them then takes away their own personal version of the emptiness and guilt that follows. Anna discovers the silent symbolism of sign language and sustains her own connection to Megan by steadfastly signing to her somewhere in the muted world under the waves. As her mother withdraws further into a separate mourning, Anna matures and uses her skill of signing to become a teacher of deaf children. Just as suddenly as her sister disappeared, Anna is confronted by the needs of a deaf girl. The two tentatively share themselves with one another. As they connect and communicate, a profound story quietly unfolds, uniting them and creating a thoughtful and memorable focus on our deepest desires and values.

a wonderful read

a gem of a book by a first time author - Ms. Stolzman writes a story of emotional attachments and grief overcome by love - a moving story wherein you feel as though the author is talking just to you and you are enthralled by her story - bravo can't wait until her next one

A New Favorite

Well, I've just finished Rachel Stolzman's The Sign for Drowning, and am in the stunned place an outstanding story leaves you. It is a book that I couldn't put down and then read more and more slowly as I approached and tried to delay its inevitable end. It is A Favorite, absolutely, and one that I'll read again. I mean, I want to adopt a deaf child. I want to adopt Adrea. What I love about Stolzman's voice is its grace. She maintains a poetic facility and restraint throughout A Sign for Drowning, and is worth studying to see how it's done when it's done right. No word is wasted, and nothing sounds precious. The reader is left to experience. And what a story! It moves, it surprises, it takes you in immediately. Rachel Stolzman is a very talented writer, and I cannot wait to see what comes next.

beautiful haunting story

'The Sign for Drowning' is an emotionally honest, sincere story about how far reaching a tragedy can be. Stolzman captures the sad, innocent reality of a little girl who suddenly finds herself alone after her sister's tragic drowning and then tells the story of the adult woman who is still haunted by the accident. I found Ana's struggle to embrace motherhood especially interesting, a complex portrayal of a female character.