The Floating Girls by Lo Patrick is a sad story about how every family has its secrets. Kay Whitaker is twelve when the story opens and lives in the small and extremely rural town of Bledsoe, Georgia. Over summer break while exploring the neighboring marsh she stumbles upon a stilt house and meets the inhabitants, young Andy Webber and his father. Having recently moved back from California the Webbers are just trying to get by like everybody else. When Kay becomes fascinated by Andy, and convinced she is going to marry him when they are adults, her parents continually tell her not to go back there and not to interact with the Webbers no matter what. Not understanding why she was told no, Kay continues to do just that and continually finds a way to interact with Andy, even after she learns that his father is suspected of killing his mother when Andy was just extremely young. When Kay’s sister goes missing things quickly start getting murky and mysterious for the Whitaker family and Kay and her brothers must quickly learn to navigate in a world that is filled with secrets and the unknown.
This book was really good and I was enthralled by the picture it painted of this family living in this small rural town of the south. Specifically I found myself enchanted by Kay as she just keeps trying to navigate in a world filled with unknowns. She is forever curious and doesn’t seem to know how to stop and really doesn’t seem to know what to think about her family. There were a few things that I didn’t necessarily like about her, such as the way she thought about and treated her sister, but considering her age that makes sense as she hasn’t learned any better. Over the course of the book she does get better about that but only because she ends up being in a situation where she doesn’t know what or who to trust in regards to anything. The book was also sad though as it portrays a situation that is all kinds of off and rather worrying as many people like to think that people don’t live in conditions that poor in a country as rich as the United States and yet this book shows that yes people do still live like that. It also shows how even dysfunctional families still rely upon and trust each other when it comes down to it even if it is only because they don’t know any different. The book did a great job of portraying all of this and an even better job of showing how all of these things are perceived through Kay’s perspective which is not necessarily easy considering her age. It also did a pretty good job of building up the tension and mystery around the Webber family and why Kay is not supposed to interact with them or go to their house. Though I was rather sad about the events being portrayed, I did end up rather enjoying the book so I am happy to give it four out of five stars.
This book is a pretty good example of contemporary fiction so if you prefer that type of work you might consider this one. However, it is also a rather sad and at times almost heartbreaking story so you should probably be prepared for that going in. I will also say that the narrator is a rather blunt twelve-year old girl who has absolutely no filter for her thoughts or what she says so there is some considerable profanity and other mildly concerning content. The book is aimed at adults and I would mostly agree with that considering the content though I will also say that readers over the age of sixteen should be okay if they are prepared for the content. Overall a good book that I hope you will consider trying. If you do, consider sharing your thoughts in the comments.