The Polite Act of Drowning

by Charleen Hurtubise

First published 2023

Mary Rose Brickman's family lives in silence on their remote lakeside property, where drowning feels less like accident and more like tradition. When her father vanishes and her mother retreats into cryptic withdrawal, fifteen-year-old Mary Rose must navigate the murky boundaries between survival and complicity. A local boy's unexpected friendship offers a lifeline, but also threatens to expose the family's dangerous underwater history. As summer deepens and secrets rise like waterlogged memories, Mary Rose learns that some inheritances are carried in blood, and some truths are best kept submerged. Her choices will determine whether her family's patterns continue or finally break.

Genres: mystery, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama

Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator

Setting: Lake, Remote Lakeside Property

Period: Summer

288 pages · Paperback · Bonnier Books Ltd

Content warnings: death, mental-illness

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