Swim Back to Me

Stunning. . . . Packer can break your heart--and she can mend it, too. -- O, The Oprah Magazine <br> <br> A tour de force. . . . With this collection, Ann Packer takes her place among today's best authors of literary fiction. -- The Minneapolis Star-Tribune <br> [Packer's] patient investigations reveal human longing in such clear, stripped-down familiarity--never shirking from the difficult--that readers experience a singular sense of comfort. -- San Francisco Chronicle <br> Exhilarating. . . . Searing. . . . [Packer's] stories brim with piercing vitality and clear-eyed believability. -- The Washington Post <br> Packer paints these lives with full and compassionate brush strokes. -- The New York Times Book Review <br> As audacious, imaginative and poignant as any of [Packer's] previous work. . . . Packer can compress a lifetime of hope and sorrow in a short story, and in a brief paragraph can suggest the unspoken language of marriage and family. -- The Miami Herald <br> Wonderful. . . . [A] lovely, masterful collection. -- The Boston Globe <br> Ann Packer's Swim Back to Me reminded me of why I fell in love with literature in the first place. Upon closing the book, I thought, 'I'll read this again'. . . . Packer's stories stick with you. --Susan Balee, The Philadelphia Inquirer <br> <br> Packer . . . is a master at getting to the heart of characters struggling on in the face of loss. . . . Swim Back to Me is best enjoyed for Packer's sharply focused snapshots of people at pivotal points in their lives, a focus so intense that we can feel as if we're spying on them. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch <br> <br> [Beginning] Packer's stories feels as nonchalant as stepping into a puddle but results in a sudden plunge into deep water. . . . Potent and deftly written. -- Dallas Morning News <br> An author who speaks with her full voice. . . . The people in Packer's stories are so possible and so familiar, r