From Publishers Weekly
An overweight New Hampshire bank employee is misdiagnosed with cancer and given a year to live in this first novel, a giddy, overblown romantic comedy. Wish-fulfillment is on the agenda for the unfortunately named Charlotte Clapp. After her doctor gives her the bad news, she decides to rob the bank where she works and run away to L.A. Miraculously, her daring life change is rewarded by unintentional weight loss—fortunate, because Skip, the pool boy at her luxury apartment complex, is a blonde Adonis (and a former lawyer), and Charlotte (now calling herself Blossom McBeal) plans to sit in a kimono by the pool, hoping desperately that he'll fall for her. Friendship is provided by Charlotte's dog-loving elderly neighbor, Dolly—and Charlotte needs it, because the police are still after her, slowly but surely tracking her to California. Schwarz's novel is as padded as Charlotte's waistline with purple prose ("The perfect silvery notes... hovered like breakable angels over the audience") and hyperbole ("One Krispy Kreme after another, until she resembled a cardboard clown with a ring of white powder around its mouth"). But those willing to read between the book's often-unwieldy lines will be rewarded with soap-operatic satisfactions. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
If it looks like a chick, walks like a chick, and talks like a chick, is it chick lit? Not necessarily. All the elements of the typical chick lit novel are here: loveless, lonely heroine; zany, life-changing situations; quirky secondary characters; glamorous setting. But the author has given these elements a gravity not seen in the typical chick lit novel. Charlotte Clapp is dying. With only one year left to live, Charlotte has decided to do just that--live. On her last day at work she steals $2 million, fakes her suicide, and heads to Los Angeles. Charlotte dubs herself Blossom McBeal (after connecting with the obituary of an 88-year-old rabble rouser), buys an apartment, and finds herself falling in love with the pool boy. The cops back home suspect Charlotte's staged crime scene and start tracking her down. Characters may behave outlandishly but they're realistic. Comic situations are preposterous yet believable. The tone is amusing and earnest. Readers of chick lit who want more substance will find it in this standout first novel. Kaite Mediatore
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


James Patterson, author of Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
"Every once in a while a novel comes along that just has it. Great story, memorable characters. "


Rebecca Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
"Readers will love Blossom's fantasy year and cheer as newcomer Schwarz wraps this one up."

FROM THE PUBLISHER

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￯﾿ﾽ 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.

FROM THE CRITICS

Julia Livshin - The Washington Post

… a female-empowerment joy ride … this feel-good debut is a lively read.

Booklist

Readers of chick lit who want more substance will find it in this standout first novel.

Publishers Weekly

An overweight New Hampshire bank employee is misdiagnosed with cancer and given a year to live in this first novel, a giddy, overblown romantic comedy. Wish-fulfillment is on the agenda for the unfortunately named Charlotte Clapp. After her doctor gives her the bad news, she decides to rob the bank where she works and run away to L.A. Miraculously, her daring life change is rewarded by unintentional weight loss-fortunate, because Skip, the pool boy at her luxury apartment complex, is a blonde Adonis (and a former lawyer), and Charlotte (now calling herself Blossom McBeal) plans to sit in a kimono by the pool, hoping desperately that he'll fall for her. Friendship is provided by Charlotte's dog-loving elderly neighbor, Dolly-and Charlotte needs it, because the police are still after her, slowly but surely tracking her to California. Schwarz's novel is as padded as Charlotte's waistline with purple prose ("The perfect silvery notes... hovered like breakable angels over the audience") and hyperbole ("One Krispy Kreme after another, until she resembled a cardboard clown with a ring of white powder around its mouth"). But those willing to read between the book's often-unwieldy lines will be rewarded with soap-operatic satisfactions. Agent, Suzanne Gluck. (June) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Charlotte Clapp is 34, overweight, lonely, and bored in a small New England town. After learning that she has a year to live, she steals $2 million from the bank where she works, stages her death, and drives to Los Angeles via New Orleans. As "Blossom McBeal," she spends the year swimming at night and working on her "Things To Do Before I Die" list. Two new friends include Skip, the hunky pool guy, and old Dolly Feingold, reminiscent of the wonderful Mrs. Lefkowitz in Jennifer Weiner's In Her Shoes. Blossom/Charlotte is determined to make a difference for others and resolve some regrettable episodes in her own life. Months pass: she's losing weight, but can dying feel this good? Though one wishes a heavy woman could win her man without physical transformation, readers will love Blossom's fantasy year and cheer as newcomer Schwarz wraps this one up. Though not as fine as Weiner's Good in Bed or Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone, this should be popular in public libraries. Rebecca Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Second chances. Charlotte Clapp doesn't look like the kind of person who would steal two million bucks from the bank where she works. But her doctor just told her that she has a year to live, and she wants to go out in style. Goodbye, New Hampshire-hello, New Orleans. Binging on beignets and mint-juleps, Charlotte listens to the soliloquies, rendered in contrived Cajun dialect, of a bartender named Henri and decides she has as much right to be happy as anyone else. Moving right along to Los Angeles, fat, plain Charlotte renames herself Blossom McBeal and buys a luxurious apartment for cash, no questions asked. After taking in the sights-Grauman's Chinese, the La Brea Tar Pits, etc.-she spends endless lazy hours basking by the pool, splashing in the pool (where she feels blissfully weightless and free) and strikes up a friendship with Skip, the pool guy. Forlorn when he fails to show for several weeks, she swims laps. When he reappears, she's thinner. They go to Disneyland. They have fun. But the feds are after her, in what has to be the slowest pursuit ever of a rather noticeable fugitive, and so is her doctor, who has to tell her that he made a mistake. Fortunately, by the time they do catch up with her she's already experienced a night of memorable sex with Skip, and learned many lessons about life, not only from him but from other colorful characters as well, including an old lady named Dolly who dies and leaves her ten million. Charlotte/Blossom is-ta-da!-a celebrity at last, but will the New Hampshire judge forgive her when she stands trial? He just has to, right?An amiable, rather babyish fantasy from newcomer Schwarz, creative director/writer of a New York ad firm. Agent: SuzanneGluck/William Morris

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Every once in a while a novel comes along that just has it. Great story, memorable characters. Pace. High emotion. Night Swimming has it. — James Patterson