Night Swimming (2004) (edit title/settings)

Sometimes you've got to change just to stay afloat...

In the bestselling tradition of Good in Bed comes a funny, touching, wildly entertaining novel that speaks to every woman who's ever longed to take the plunge into a life she's only dreamed of… NIGHT SWIMMING

For too many years, quiet, unassuming, overweight Charlotte Clapp has let life slip through her fingers. Holed up in tiny Gorham, New Hampshire, gorging on bonbons and glued to reruns of Magnum, P.I., she has made a habit of playing it safe. But Charlotte is about to get a major wake-up call. What was supposed to be a routine physical turns up shattering news: Her days are numbered. In fact, she has just one year left.

How can she be dying when she has never truly lived? That's the refrain that keeps running through her head. Unwilling to waste another second, Charlotte walks into the First Savings and Loan Bank where she's worked for fifteen years and quits. Then she does the unthinkable: She robs the place.

Now two million dollars richer, Charlotte-all 253 pounds of her-is going on the lam to discover what life and love are all about. It's a journey she never envisioned-one that's bound to be difficult, maybe painful, even lonely. Yet it will transform her in the most unpredictable and deliciously surprising ways.

Arriving in Hollywood, Charlotte changes her name and buys a luxury apartment, complete with expansive views, marble foyer, and a blond, built, bronzed god of a pool boy. She forges new friendships, falls in lust, and, on nights when she can't bear the weight of her own thoughts, takes moonlit swims. Soon something magical happens: In the buoyant water of the pool, the pounds start to slip off, and the real Charlotte begins to emerge.

Then, just when Charlotte believes that the love and happiness she's longed for are finally within reach, reality intrudes. Back in Gorham, people have begun to investigate the disappearance of both Charlotte and the two million dollars. She's a wanted woman. But will she have time to get what she wants before it's too late?

A wise and winning debut by a talented newcomer, Night Swimming is that rare hybrid: a novel filled with both wit and heart.

(courtesy of Barnes and Noble's website)