An elegant, atmospheric, emotional coming-of-age novel with themes of generational trauma, sexual identity and coping with mental illness at its heart, as well as the silence of women drowning in plain view in their daily lives.
Charleen Hurtubise has lived in Dublin, Ireland for over 25 years, having moved from Michigan, USA. She is a teacher and artist as well as a writer, and her short fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in various publications. She holds an MFA Creative Writing from University College Dublin (UCD) where she has also facilitated creative writing modules.
'The Polite Act of Drowning is a beautiful and captivating novel,
lyrical and sensuous, a precise and faithful evocation of the
tumult and trauma of family life, and of emergence into adulthood,
and the confrontation of truths about ourselves and the people we
love.' - Donal Ryan
'Charleen Hurtubise is a gifted storyteller. The vivid world of
Kettle Lake, its natural beauties, its characters and its secrets,
comes alive in this lyrical, evocative novel. Hurtubise's writing
is skilful, compelling, mesmeric.' - Lia Mills
'A luminous and gripping portrait of a teenage girl coming of age
in a small lakeshore community. Filled with colourful, complicated
characters and brimming with heartbreak, love, and redemption, it
is an exquisite debut from a powerful storyteller.' - Michelle
Gallen
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