The Girl Who Stopped Swimming

I started reading this book at the time Offspring #2 was reading "Watership Down." The author of "The Girl Who Stopped Swimming" referred to "Watership Down" quite often. She frequently talked about the rabbit named Cowslip from "Watership Down." Cowslip was the rabbit who lived in denial. Cowslip knew he and his fellow rabbits had better food than the other rabbit dens because they were going to be eaten by the farmer but he also didn't know. The truth was too horrible so he pushed it aside and pretended it wasn't true. Joshilyn Jackson turned his name into a verb. She'd write, "Mother is cowslipping again." meaning the mother was actively denying reality because life wasn't pretty at the moment. Denial can be a useful survival tool. I've used it myself. In this story, denial becomes dangerous to the welfare of children. "The Girl Who Stopped Swimming" is a tale about two sisters. One of the sisters uses reality as a weapon and the other one tends to cowslip like their mother. This is a good story - you might like it.