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About Florence Adler Swims Forever: A Novel
Product Description “The perfect summer read” (USA TODAY) begins with a shocking tragedy that results in three generations of the Adler family grappling with heartbreak, romance, and the weight of family secrets across the course of one summer. “Rachel Beanland is a writer of uncommon wit and wisdom, with a sharp and empathetic eye for character. She’ll win you over in the most old fashioned of ways: She simply tells a hell of a story.” —Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer Finalist for The Great Believers Atlantic City, 1934. Every summer, Esther and Joseph Adler rent their house out to vacationers escaping to “America’s Playground” and move into the small apartment above their bakery. Despite the cramped quarters, this is the apartment where they raised their two daughters, Fannie and Florence, and it always feels like home. Now Florence has returned from college, determined to spend the summer training to swim the English Channel, and Fannie, pregnant again after recently losing a baby, is on bedrest for the duration of her pregnancy. After Joseph insists they take in a mysterious young woman whom he recently helped emigrate from Nazi Germany, the apartment is bursting at the seams. Esther only wants to keep her daughters close and safe but some matters are beyond her control: there’s Fannie’s risky pregnancy—not to mention her always-scheming husband, Isaac—and the fact that the handsome heir of a hotel notorious for its anti-Semitic policies, seems to be in love with Florence. When tragedy strikes, Esther makes the shocking decision to hide the truth—at least until Fannie’s baby is born—and pulls the family into an elaborate web of secret-keeping and lies, bringing long-buried tensions to the surface that reveal how quickly the act of protecting those we love can turn into betrayal. Based on a true story and told in the vein of J. Courtney Sullivan’s Saints for All Occasions and Anita Diamant’s The Boston Girl, Beanland’s family saga is a breathtaking portrait of just how far we will go to in order to protect our loved ones and an uplifting portrayal of how the human spirit can endure—and even thrive—after tragedy. Amazon.com Review An Amazon Best Book of July 2020: The Adlers, a middle-class Jewish family who owns a local bakery, make their annual move in 1934 from their Atlantic City house to an apartment above the bakery for the summer so they can rent the house to vacationers. The apartment houses Joseph and Esther Adler, their 19-year-old daughter Florence, a Hungarian girl named Anna whose mother was a childhood friend of Joseph’s (and maybe more), and their seven-year-old granddaughter, Gussie. Gussie’s mom, Fannie, is on bed rest in the hospital, trying to safely carry a baby to full term after she recently lost a premature baby boy. The novel opens with Florence, a champion swimmer who that summer plans to attempt to swim the English Channel, drowning. Esther and Joseph decide to keep Florence’s death a secret, in fear that if Fannie found out her sister had died, she would go into premature labor and lose another baby. The family mourns in private—physically and metaphorically trapped in this small space—all while pretending with virtually everyone that Florence is alive and well. The few that are brought in on the truth—the medical staff at the hospital; Florence’s close friend and coach, Stuart; Joseph’s secretary; and Fannie’s shifty husband, Isaac—spin increasingly elaborate lies to protect Fannie. As you might imagine, it comes crashing down, but not before these characters all uncover secrets they have been hiding from each other. Beanland deftly weaves various historical events and themes: the rise of the Nazi regime, family secrets, the struggle between classes, religious tensions, sexuality, and familial love. Yet it works, and this novel is as close to unputdownable as they come. Based on a true story—beautifully described in the Author’s Note—Florence Adler Swims Forever is a memorable debut. —Sarah Gelm
