“I really enjoyed Swimming with Ghosts, for the excellent characters, unusual plot inside the world of local competitive swimming, the fine writing, and the frequent insights and humor. I raced right through it.” —Anne Lamott
“Who knows when a perfect life might be ripped out by the roots? It’s summer and as closest friendships go under and family secrets surface, a storm may be coming for Gillian Cloud and her picture-perfect swim club community. Michelle Brafman is such a sharp observer of suburban life and Gillian, and #bestie Kristy, are a deliciously written, female friendship. So compelling, I snuck out of bed at night to finish it. Dive in!” —Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Summer Before the War
“Swimming with Ghosts dives into the world of children’s competitive swimming with sharp observations and an abundance of empathy. I was thrilled to spend time at the picture-perfect River Run swim club, caught in the swirl of family secrets and friendship. Moving perfectly between humor and darkness, Michelle Brafman delivers a delicious and compelling book about jealousy, addiction, and legacy.” —Jennifer Close, bestselling author of Girls in White Dresses and Marrying the Ketchups
“Swimming with Ghosts is a story about ripple effects and the lies we tell ourselves in our most valiant, human, futile attempts to escape our own histories. This is my favorite kind of novel: a page-turner about love and secrets, honor and betrayal, and all the messiness of families and legacies.” —Lauren Fox, New York Times bestselling author of Send for Me
“I devoured Swimming with Ghosts in a single day, tearing through one unputdownable chapter to the next. A perfect book club pick, Brafman writes with loving sensitivity and humor about two close friends, their families, and the secrets that join them together.” —Bethany Ball, author of The Pessimists and What to Do About the Solomons
“Beneath the surface of Michelle Brafman’s propulsive Swimming with Ghosts, with its delightful humor and sharp observations of suburban mores, swirl dark undercurrents. Riptides that threaten two families lurk behind the luaus stalwart Gillian Cloud organizes at the community swimming club and her whitewashed Facebook posts. With open eyes and extraordinary compassion, Brafman tackles the shame of love addiction, illuminating its links to other addictions and what true recovery entails.” —Lisa Gornick, author of The Peacock Feast and Louisa Meets Bear
“Lurking beneath the seemingly mundane surface of swim clubs and pasta parties and petty squabbles are dark secrets. Best friends who have much to hide, marriages that are not what they seem. In this page-turner of a tale, Michelle Brafman leads the reader into the deeper waters of deception, loss, and self-destructive obsession. This is a story that creeps up on you and then holds fast. It will stay with me for a long time to come.” —Mary Morris, author of The Jazz Palace and Gateway to the Moon
“Swimmers and readers rejoice! Michelle Brafman’s Swimming with Ghosts is proof that the most important events in life happen at the pool. Fast-paced and frequently hilarious, we unsuspectingly float on the novel’s wry, quirky humor until we’re suddenly over deep water, gazing into the depths of our need for purpose, friendship, and love. Anyone heading to a pool or beach this summer should have a copy of Swimming with Ghosts in their swim bag.” —David McGlynn, author of A Door in the Ocean
“Michelle Brafman deftly peels back the layers of suburbia, revealing an unforgettable summer that’s part Peyton Place, part American Beauty, with a hint of David Lynch. As she knows, competitive youth sports is a world that drives some of the best over the edge. Yet it can also heal so many of us.” —Tim Wendel, author of Escape from Castro’s Club
“A gripping family drama, Swimming with Ghosts is as suspenseful as it is sensitively wrought.” —Annie Berke, Washington City Paper
“Swimming with Ghosts…offers a summer read that tackles serious issues while also seeking to deliver a highly readable, page-turning story.” —Ellen Braunstein, The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle
“This is the book that you can really take to the beach, sit in your chair, and dive all the way in!” —Amy Impellizzeri, WHMT-TV’s “Good Day PA” (Harrisburg)
“Brafman’s third novel, Swimming with Ghosts, is a page turner. . .The intensity of their involvement in this competitive and recreational activity turns into a serious exploration of friendship, addiction, and what is truly meaningful in life.” —Martha Anne Toll, Bloom
“I loved it so much! Out of this seemingly small world [Brafman] created a story with such heft and consequence; it has an almost epic quality—brava!” —Yona Zeldis McDonough, Lilith
“Michelle Brafman’s Swimming with Ghosts explores the inner workings of a Northern Virginia swim club, focusing mostly on a group of team moms and best friends with (depending on how you look at it) too much or not enough time on their hands. It’s also a story about addiction in all its forms. And about ghosts in all their forms. Plus, there are marriages — both strong and strained — to consider. The novel, Brafman’s third, delights in taking its characters and throwing them into the deep end.” —Cathy Alter, Washington Independent Review of Books
“Read on to learn why this equally devastating and humorous novel deserves a spot in your pool bag this summer.” —Jessie Walker,Baltimore Fishbowl
“My favorite part of this story is how it’s told from the point of view of four separate characters. . . .Full of domestic drama born of complicated histories and deep-seated secrets.”—Tricia Ford, Audible Editor
"Wonderfully drawn characters and a lovely portrayal of friendship!” —Gail Gottleib, host of New Books Network Literary Fiction Podcast
"Quite the page-turner." —Marion Winik, The Weekly Reader
“A perfect summer listen.” —AudioFile
"A story about revealing community secrets and shame, it’s no wonder Swimming with Ghosts has already become a summer favorite around the Lilith office." —Lilith Magazine
“Moving . . . This fast-paced novel is difficult to put down, and so affecting you won’t want to.” —R.L. Maizes, author of Other People's Pets


PRAISE FOR THE AUDIOBOOK
"Listeners will be immediately engaged by the River Run Swim Club of Virginia....A perfect summer listen!" —AudioFile

★ Written by the award-winning, talented writer, teacher and writing mentor Michelle Brafman, who teaches fiction writing in the Master of Writing program at Johns Hopkins University. She is a storyteller and a guide to stories, skilled at shaping and helping others to discover and shape the stories within ourselves and around us.
★At times vivid and humorous, and at times heart-wrenching, this novel tells a haunting dark story and the traps brought about by addiction and lingering trauma, and shows how we can overcome the hidden legacy of shame and discover a freedom once unimaginable - a freedom that can only be achieved by facing life's greatest storms together with those closest to us.
★ "This story is about a ripple effect and the lies we tell ourselves when we try, most bravely and most humanely but also most futilely, to escape our own history." Set against the backdrop of a community swimming pool and summer swimming league, the characters are vividly portrayed, and their childhood experiences are authentically reflected in their adult lives. The author's writing is witty and wise, with a profound insight into human relationships; the characters' relationships are rich and the plot is full of twists and turns, making it a perfect summer read.
★The sequel 'book 2' is completed and will be released in 2026.

From the acclaimed author of Washing the Dead and Bertrand Court comes a satirical and chilling, yet deeply-sensitive, tale that captures the ethos and ruin of children’s competitive swimming, where parents must face the haunting spirits of their own tumultuous upbringings or risk losing their way and—in turn—themselves.
It’s June 2012. The magical and slightly cultish River Run swim club is alive with the spirit of fun competition when a perfect storm brews between team moms and best friends, Gillian Cloud and Kristy Weinstein. The ghost of family addiction has turned up, looming over their carefully planned pasta parties, tie-dye nights, and pep rallies, forcing them to face their unresolved childhood trauma.
Gillian responds by trying to control everyone around her, while Kristy relapses into her dangerous addiction to love. Real sparks fly on the night of the derecho—a freak land hurricane—which sweeps through Northern Virginia, knocking out power for days. The storm ignites a tinder box of secrets, leaving Gillian and Kristy alone in the hot dark—their shame their only company.
At times humorous and devastating, Swimming with Ghosts is a hauntingly dark, yet uniquely tender story of the various entrapments of addiction and lingering trauma, and what it takes to overcome our hidden legacies of disgrace and discover a once unimaginable freedom made possible by confronting life’s greatest storms with the people closest to us.

Michelle Brafman
Michelle Brafman is an award-winning author, teacher, and writing mentor. Currently, she teaches fiction writing in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing program at Johns Hopkins University.
Beyond her own writing, her greatest passion lies in helping others find and refine their narrative voices. She has taught creative writing at George Washington University, the New Directions Writing Project, and now at the Johns Hopkins University MFA in Writing program, where she received the 2019 Excellence in Teaching Award. In 2004, she founded her own writing coaching business, which has grown into the Glen Echo Writing Workshop, a community of writers that Michelle holds dear. Each month, about thirty writers gather to participate in multi-genre workshops and teach college-level summer essay writing courses, sharing their memoirs, poems, and short stories, which also captivates Michelle. During the summer, Michelle also guides rising seniors on how to write their college application essays. One of her greatest joys in life is helping students discover their superpowers and tell their stories in their own voices.
Her debut novel, "Cleaning the Dead," was included in Book Riot's list of 100 must-read books about women and religion. Her second work, the short story collection "Bertrand Coulter: Stories," received several awards, including a special mention in the Pushcart Prize anthology. Michelle's articles have been published in The Oprah Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, Slate, LitHub, Forward, Los Angeles Review of Books, Tablet, and other publications.
Michelle was once a swimming mom and an NCAA All-American freestyle swimmer. She has never lived more than a mile away from a swimming pool, lake, ocean, or river.
Michelle loves sharing her passion for storytelling and has spoken about her books and writing process at over 160 venues, including bookstores, classrooms, synagogues, and countless book clubs. She has also had the opportunity to interview some of her literary idols, such as Anne Lamott and T.C. Boyle.