The Floating Girls: A Novel

3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars | 942 ratings

Price: 1.99

Last update: 07-16-2024


About this item

"A masterly achievement." – Publishers Weekly STARRED review

"Many readers are looking for the next Where the Crawdads Sing, and will find The Floating Girls...is a close cousin." – Augusta Chronicle

Fierce 12-year-old Kay can't ignore the problems surfacing in her troubled home—or the mysterious marsh outside. It will take all of her courage and perseverance to survive her family drama as their dark secrets come to life in the wake of a small-town murder.

One hot, sticky summer in Bledsoe, Georgia, twelve-year-old Kay Whitaker stumbles across a stilt house in a neighboring marsh and upon Andy Webber, a boy about her age. He and his father have recently moved back to Georgia from California, and rumors of the suspicious drowning death of Andy's mother years earlier have chased them there and back.

Kay is fascinated and enamored with Andy, and she doesn't listen when her father tells her to stay away from the Webbers. But when Kay's sister goes missing, the mystery of Mrs. Webber's death—and Kay's parents' potential role in it—comes to light. Kay and her brothers must navigate the layers of secrets that emerge in the course of the investigation as their family, and the world as they knew it, unravels around them.

At once wickedly funny and heartbreaking, perfect for fans of Kim Michele Richardson, The Floating Girls is a stunning southern mystery, a wonderfully atmospheric coming-of-age family drama told from the perspective of a fierce 12-year-old marsh girl—reminiscent of a modern-day Scout Finch—as she unravels the secrets that threaten her entire family.

Praise for The Floating Girls:

"A powerhouse of a Southern novel. At once a poignant coming-of-age tale, a murder mystery, and an evocative tribute to the marshlands of Georgia. Lo Patrick is a standout new Southern voice." —Andrea Bobotis, author of The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt

"Kay is the smartest, funniest, most curious young narrator I have come across in some time. Her voice stuck with me long after I finished reading. If I met Kay on the street, I'd beg her to be my best friend." —Tiffany Quay Tyson, award-winning author of The Past is Never

"A cracking story that unfolds in gorgeous prose in the stultifying heat of the American South." —Hayley Scrivenor, author of Dirt Creek

"Fans of Where the Crawdads Sing will love this immersive mystery set against the salty air of Georgia's marshes. In Patrick's atmospheric prose, the water and its characters come to life." —Lindsey Rogers Cook, author of Learning to Speak Southern?



From the Publisher

The Floating Girls - by Lo Patrick (image of book cover)
Praise from Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Top reviews from the United States

Juls
5.0 out of 5 stars Gruesome
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2024
Probably one of the saddest books I've ever read. Hard to believe the circumstances described. This author has to have had at least an inkling about this families' situation to have written it with such real feelings and regrets.
Mary Showalter
4.0 out of 5 stars Held my interest!
Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2022
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that kept me glued to it. This was such a book, right from the get-go. The author made the setting so real that I felt like I lived right there among them. I felt the sweltering heat, the ever present humidity, and the cold that goes to the bones in the deep-south winters. I wasn’t a fan of all the swearing, but it certainly helped define the main character; a young indigent adolescent growing up in a very irregular, backwoods and uneducated family. It’s life I’ve glimpsed myself having lived for two years in the state of Georgia. Some seemed to find humor in this story. I was struck with a keen sense of poignancy.
I recommend this book. It’s a page turner that will keep you glued till its conclusion.
Ladybug
3.0 out of 5 stars ending leaves you hanging
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2023
Looked forward to reading this novel as a follow up to the crawdads novel, but it didn’t live up to the reviews. Kay was engaging throughout as she struggles with her situation, but I was disappointed at the lack of growth in her character. Also couldn’t engage with Andy and his father at all. Or the relationship between Kay’s father and Andy’s father. Forced myself to keep reading.
Van Wey
5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Page Turner
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2024
If you enjoy reading plots with lots of twists and turns, then Floating Girls is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
The sad side is reading about children living in poverty and suffering parental neglect and abuse.
Overall an excellent book.
Donna Rivers
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2023
Different but a good story. The only thing is there is a lot of swearing, mostly by the 12 year old narrator. A twist at the end.
Maddi
3.0 out of 5 stars Bad binding
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2023
So far the book is great and I really like it but the binding is terrible. The pages keep falling out and it’s making it very difficult to read. I highly suggest the book but maybe buy it in the store or the e book version to be safe!
desbaker
2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2024
This was well written and definitely sucked me in, but I thought that there was over much gratuitous profanity, and the pacing was slow at the beginning of the book and then rushed like mad towards the end. Also, it was depressing for being fiction. I don’t want to examine the human condition as much as I want to escape it or see the parts of it that are beautiful when I’m reading. The ending of this book left me feeling like I had wasted a significant amount of time. One thing that the author did well was make you feel the irritation and anxiety and agitation of her main character and I’m not altogether convinced that that was a good thing.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Like
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024
good read

Best Sellers in

 
 

Under the Lake

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 2916
1.99
 
 

Say You Swear

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 59675
5.99
 
 

Then She Was Gone: A Novel

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 115305
2.99
 
 

A Flicker in the Dark: A Novel

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 49676
12.99
 
 

Spark of the Everflame: The Kindred's Curse Saga, Book One

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 34573
4.99
 
 

Swan Song

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 14292
7.99
 
 

A Duke of One's Own: A BRAND NEW gorgeously funny, spicy Regency romance from Emma Orchard for 2024

4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 523
0.99
 
 

Sisi: Empress on Her Own: A Novel

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 4018
1.99