A Wild Winter Swan: A Novel

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Description

After brilliantly reimagining the worlds of Oz, Wonderland, Dickensian London, and the Nutcracker, the New York Times bestselling author of Wicked turns his unconventional genius to Hans Christian Andersen's "The Wild Swans," transforming this classic tale into an Italian-American girl's poignant coming-of-age story, set amid the magic of Christmas in 1960s New York.

Following her brother's death and her mother's emotional breakdown, Laura now lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a lonely townhouse she shares with her old-world, strict, often querulous grandparents. But the arrangement may be temporary. The quiet, awkward teenager has been getting into trouble at home and has been expelled from her high school for throwing a record album at a popular girl who bullied her. When Christmas is over and the new year begins, Laura may find herself at boarding school in Montreal.

Nearly unmoored from reality through her panic and submerged grief, Laura is startled when a handsome swan boy with only one wing lands on her roof. Hiding him from her ever-bickering grandparents, Laura tries to build the swan boy a wing so he can fly home. But the task is too difficult to accomplish herself. Little does Laura know that her struggle to find help for her new friend parallels that of her grandparents, who are desperate for a distant relatives financial aid to save the family store.

As he explores themes of class, isolation, family, and the dangerous yearning to be saved by a power greater than ourselves, Gregory Maguire conjures a haunting, beautiful tale of magical realism that illuminates one young womans heartbreak and hope as she begins the inevitable journey to adulthood.

Reviews

"Maguire, whose gift for transforming children's stories is most famously on display in Wicked, works his magic once again with this retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale 'The Wild Swans.' An enchanting, tender, often funny coming-of-age story whose perceptive truths about the human condition surprise and delight."--Library Journal (starred review)
"This is a novel that is meant to be read in a book nook with thick socks and a winter sweater. It is a very comfortable read, where moments of stress and sadness bloom into scenes of real mystery and beauty . . . A Wild Winter Swan is unlike anything I have read in a long time--in its intimacy, simplicity and welcoming solace."--Bookreporter.com
"Sensitive depictions of generational and coming-of-age conflicts intertwine with whimsy as Maguire touchingly shows how people invoke stories to help elucidate their complicated world."--Booklist
"As Maguire has so often done before with books like Wicked and Mirror Mirror, A Wild Winter Swan is a delight of fantasy and the grotesquely beautiful in all of us."--San Francisco Book Review
"Maguire (Wicked) continues his fabulist fairy tale remixes with this enchanting story, . . . Maguire parallels the swan boy's story of brokenness to Laura's own struggles overcoming class and cultural differences. Fans of Maguire's retellings will love this simple, elegant story."--Publishers Weekly

Author Bio

Gregory Maguire is theNew York Timesbestselling author ofConfessions of an Ugly Stepsister; Lost; Mirror Mirror;and the Wicked Years, a series that includesWicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men,andOut of Oz. Now a beloved classic,Wickedis the basis for a blockbuster Tony Awardwinning Broadway musical. Maguire has lectured on art, literature, and culture both at home and abroad. He lives with his family near Boston, Massachusetts.