What is this about?
Rachel Krall is in Neapolis for the new season of her podcast, covering the rape trial of the town’s golden boy. However, she begins to receive notes from Hannah, a woman who brings her a new case — the death of her sister, Jenny Stills.
What else is this about?
It reminds us that as much as times change, some things never do. Two young girls were raped decades apart, and they still endure the same monstrous treatment in two different eras.
Blurb
After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.
The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny
The Night Swim is an exquisite, engrossing, painful and infuriating read all at once.
When I started reading this book, in Australia, a young woman came forward and told the country that she had been raped in Parliament. Another young woman who has been fighting for survivors of sexual abuse was named as Australian of the Year. Did I mention the part where Australia’s Attorney General was revealed as the alleged rapist of a woman that killed herself
And together they attended women’s marches in which politicians, including the Prime Minister, refused to meet these women. But let’s not forget his immortal words, of gosh, how good is it that these protests are not met with bullets like other places. I’m sort of paraphrasing.
Essentially, old white men and (some) women have determined that these women are not worth giving their time to.
That same feeling is a running theme in The Night Swim, in which bullies and men in Neapolis are involved in the rapes of two young women decades apart.
Through the use of Rachel and her podcast, Megan Goldin weaves two stories: a rape trial, set in the current timeline where a young girl, Kelly, accuses the golden boy of the town, Scott of rape. And the rape of Jenny Stills, told through the letters Hannah Stills sends Rachel in an effort to convince her to taken on Jenny’s case.
It’s through Hannah’s letters that we learn of the tragedy of her’s and Jenny’s lives all those years ago, and the depth of Hannah’s loss. Her letters are filled with the innocence of a young girl who didn’t understand what she was seeing and experiencing, and they draw Rachel into her case, even as Rachel tries to resist her curiousity.
At the same time, Rachel begins her podcast, talking to the different people that are part of the current case. She notes how Blair’s family begins to lay the groundwork for his defence in the media, while K and her family have to remain quiet. Like the townspeople did for Jenny Stills, Kelly is thought to be lying, to have been drinking and having regrets for sleeping with Scott.
Rachel also begins to understand what Jenny Stills’ legacy is in this town: thought to have killed herself while out swimming at night, Jenny endured rumours about her promiscuity, created by the boys that raped her. She also begins to understand just how Kelly and Jenny are linked through the boys and now men around them.
One of these stories would be more than enough for a book like this, but Goldin excels at keeping everything taut, with incredible pacing and details that will draw readers right into this world and to these characters.
So yes, there’s lots that made me angry while reading this book, but I hated every time that I had to stop reading. It’s just brilliant.
