March 28, 1941: Virginia Woolf drowns.

As you may have noticed, I've been making an effort lately to highlight some of the books I've covered in the past. After all, we don't want to be all new, all the time, right? That gets boring. (<--And to those of you who're all, "Yes, Leila, but that INTRO IS SURE GETTING BORING", I'll get rid of that in a week or so, once everyone is up to speed.)

Annnnd, we're back to covering depressing subjects. On this day in 1941, Virginia Woolf filled her coat pockets with rocks and walked into the river.

So I shall point you back to a few books that feature drownings.

The one that immediately leaps to mind is Megan Miranda's Fracture, in which seventeen-year-old Delany Maxwell falls through the ice, drowns, is resuscitated, and gains paranormal powers:

The other issues that Delaney grapples with are more mundane—reintegrating into school and home as That Girl Who Died, her mother's new hyper-protective nature, the fact that she accidentally made out with her most obnoxious male friend (not Decker) shortly before the accident—and it reads more like a contemporary with paranormal (or sci-fi, if you prefer to look at it that way) elements than like a straight paranormal.

There are loads of others. Off the top of my head: one of the bullies in Elizabeth Woods' Choker drowns; in Sasha Gould's Cross My Heart, the main character's older sister drowns in a Venetian canal; in Alyxandra Harvey's Haunting Violet, Violet keeps seeing the ghost of a girl who drowned; and, of COURSE, I have to at least mention A Drowned Maiden's Hair, because I bring it up at every opportunity. It is awesome and I love it.

OH. There's also one in Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death. Loved that book, and years later, the drowning scene is still seared into my memory.

[Edited to add: I thought of another one! The main character's mother in A Breath of Eyre drowned.]

I know there are zillions more: any favorites?

Comments

[Eliza]

Yay for the mention of A Drowned Maiden's Hair!! LOVED that book and I'm always glad whenever it gets exposure and its greatness acknowledged. I hope the mention leads just a few more readers to discovering this book.

[Leila]

I love it, too. I mentioned it not-so-long-ago, too, when it was featured in a Kindle Daily Deal. Hopefully some folks picked it up that day!