In Breathing Under Water, two women’s paths converge in the most unexpected way as they discover sometimes the people who need saving most are those who end up saving you.
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About Breathing Under Water
A Zibby Owens Most Anticipated Book of Summer 2026
The current is threatening to pull them under.
Berry thought she had it figured out—juggling her vice principal role while raising her sixteen-year-old autistic son, Leo. But when a promotion opportunity collides with her family’s deepest needs, she must confront whether she’s been fighting the wrong battles all along.
McKenna is drowning. Between caring for her grandmother with dementia, losing her swimming scholarship, and facing homelessness, the college student’s carefully constructed world is crumbling. Her only lifeline? Teaching swim lessons to children with autism—including Leo.
As these two women’s paths converge in the most unexpected way, they discover that sometimes the people who need saving the most are the ones who end up saving you.
Friedland grew up watching her mother care for children with special needs in the 1970s, when autism was still misunderstood and often misdiagnosed-and she learned that neurodivergence or disability should never be seen as something to be eliminated. Like Friedland’s last novel, this book tackles intense issues from an unusual angle.
With compulsion and emotional depth Breathing Under Water has the tight pace of a thriller with the personal, emotional themes of a women’s fiction novel that makes it perfect for book clubs.
Praise for Breathing Under Water
A USA TODAY bestselling author, Friedland’s books have won multiple awards including the gold medal for fiction from Readers’ Favorite and first place in the American Fiction Awards. Her 2021 release He Gets That From Me was a Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Book of the Year, won Best Book Club Pick from SheReads, and was awarded a Kirkus star.
“A thoughtful and compassionate exploration of caregiving, ambition, and the ripple effects of loving someone with profound needs. [Breathing Under Water]…is a layered, emotionally resonant novel that will give book clubs plenty to discuss.”—Tracey Garvis Graves, New York Times bestselling author of The Girl He Used to Know
“This big-hearted novel [Breathing Under Water] grabbed me from page one and didn’t let me go. Jacqueline is a master of writing characters so real, it feels like they could walk out of the book and right into your living room–and she’s done it again.”—Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author of Jane and Dan at the End of the World
“Engrossing and deeply moving, Breathing Under Water is a graceful exploration of womanhood at every age and stage. Jacqueline Friedland expertly captures the fierce love and quiet resilience of motherhood, the intense pressures of coming of age, and the unexpected ways in which we save each other. An unforgettable story with indelible characters that will stay with readers long after the final page, this is a must-read novel of the year!”—Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of Summer State of Mind
With Breathing Under Water, “Jacqueline Friedland has done it again. With her signature mix of empathy and deft plotting, she takes us inside the lives of characters holding fast to their place on the margins until you are breathlessly rooting for them with every turn of the page.”—Nicola Kraus, New York Times bestselling author of The Nanny Diaries and The Best We Could Hope For
About Jacqueline Friedland, Author of Breathing Under Water
Jacqueline Friedland is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of historical and contemporary women’s fiction. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, she earned a law degree from NYU and a Master of Fine Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. Jackie regularly reviews fiction for trade publications and appears at schools and other locations as a guest lecturer. She lives just outside New York City with her husband, four children, and two dogs.
You can connect with Jacqueline Friedland on her website, Facebook and Instagram.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: HarperMuse | HarperCollins Focus
ISBN Paperback 9781400347339
Pub Date Aug 4, 2026
LitStack Spots by Jacqueline Friedland
Here are a few other LitStack Spots that you definitely should add to your TBR stack, including He Gets That From Me by Jacqueline Friedland, Trouble the Water by Jacqueline Friedland, and That’s Not a Thing by Jacqueline Friedland.
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As an affiliate of Bookshop.org, Malaprop’s, Books-A-Million, Audiobooks.com, Chirp, 2nd & Charles, Amazon, NameHero, Envato, and Place-It, LitStack may earn a commission—at no cost to you—when you purchase through our affiliate links. We appreciate the brands we work with, and also appreciate that using our affiliate links may help you find your next great read, a book or two or more, in whatever form, while simultaneously supporting LitStack. When you use our affiliate links, you help keep LitStack running—and for that, we thank you.
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