Off the Bookshelf

Rules of the Lake

SMU Press, 192 pp., $19.95

The anguish of trying to dredge up courage is as indigenous to this lucid collection of stories as are the volatile Florida waters surrounding Annie Bartlett, Ziegler's persevering adolescent protagonist. Swimming between adult narration and a poignant child's eye, Ziegler explores the uncharted depths of family relationships. The sudden, mysterious drowning of Annie's mother awakens her to the struggle of overcoming the injury of abandonment. Her distracted, faltering father forces her to investigate the intricacies of her environment; and while the waters continually rise, threatening to invade their house, her tempestuous sister and friend, Leigh, unleashes a flood of new perspectives. Insight and meaning is unearthed in the marshes where Annie and her father scavenge for valuable glass bottles. The waters are volatile and unpredictable, but they also facilitate the characters' diving deep into their own interiors.