As always, Marnie Woodrow paints a painfully romantic picture of love, longing, and healing. Again, I was up way past my bedtime on several occasions and again, I find myself longing for another story.

"In the world of lovers there may be nothing quite as powerful as the ongoing ache of four simple words: what might have been." ( )

This novel is an eccentric story about some pretty eccentric, mixed up people from disfunctional families. But the characters are compelling and just real enough to draw you into them and want to know their historyies.Cleo's mother jummped off a boat, Madeline's mother forced her into competative swimming..... etc. The story really happens in New Orleans which was a great city for this story to happen. Interestingly enough it also included Florence Italy and Toronto Ontario. ( )

There is a good story here, but the book is way too long! ( )

A truly forgettable novel about a misfit who is drawn to water. ( )

Marnie Woodrow’s 2002 novel Spelling Mississippi begins with an extraordinary event: Cleo, a Canadian in her late twenties visiting New Orleans, witnesses a striking older woman jump headfirst into Mississippi river in the middle of the night, wearing full evening dress including a tiara and high heels. Cleo, assuming the dive is a suicide, is momentarily stunned and then runs panicked from the scene. This initial encounter between Cleo, a traveller in search of meaning and belonging, and Madeline, the diving diva who it turns out is not suicidal but seeking the exhilaration of danger, is the catalyst for a moving love story...
See the rest of my review here: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/a-tale-of-eccentric-l... ( )