When Alexandra Witt arrives at Stonebridge Academy and insists on moving into a ramshackle cottage in the woods, curiosity among the student body and the staff skyrockets. Who is this young teacher who came here alone, dresses like the kids, and left her last school under a cloud of speculation?
With its picturesque campus and classic uniforms, Stonebridge might look the part, but as Alex soon learns, it’s anything but old school. When she advises one of her new students to stand up for herself, the girl takes her advice a little too much to heart. Long-simmering tensions between the boys and girls boil over into a fight. And then total war.
I was a huge fan of “The Passenger” and with “The Swallows” Lisa Lutz is now firmly on my must read list. Two very different books, equally compelling, both beautifully written and utterly gripping, I’m really looking forward to future novels from this author.
Today’s focus is The Swallows, wherein
a toxic ball of nastiness pervades a prep school and it’s girls v boys in a twisted yet terrifyingly realistic scenario. Miss Witt is one of the best formed characters I’ve come across in years, quirky, cool, unrelentingly authentic and the catalyst for a series of events that ends in tragedy…
Multiple viewpoints tell the tale, each one adding to the bigger picture in twisted and unexpected ways. A gender war that can only end in disaster this novel deals with very relevant themes and takes them to an extreme but never unlikely level.
Nuanced, intelligent and never anything less than completely riveting, The Swallows is a story not easily dismissed from the mind.
Truly excellent. I adored it.
Highly Recommended.
You can purchase The Swallows (Titan) Here
Happy Reading!
