I loved this book, its plot, its characters, and the sincere beautiful language and understanding through which the story is told. This is the first book I have read of this author, and most certainly, it won’t be the last.

What I liked most about this book is the courage and strength of the main character, be it a fourteen-year old girl, who tells a grown-up story. Looking at adults through her eyes, her insight, her good-will and even her misconceptions have been a delight.

The novel hovers around dysfunctions: of the family, of the characters, and of the society with cultural overtones of the South.

Swan Place is the story of Dove who loved her mother, and after her death, tried to do her best to survive and to bring up her younger siblings. Although one unlucky incident after another keeps hitting her family, Dove stays strong, despite all the difficulties plus her classmates’ taunts with the help of a few adults who were good to her. One of these adults is her Aunt Bett and the other is Buzzard. Both of these women try to make Dove’s and her family’s lives a bit more livable. Moreover, there are some untold things about her family and her own background that Dove finds out as the story progresses.

What makes this story a perfect example of Southern fiction is: The splendid flow, fantastic characters, deep family ties, religious thought that doesn’t preach to the reader, quirky and well-developed characters, steady pace even through the twists, and the most wonderfully sincere storytelling through Dove’s point of view. If Faulkner’s specialty is known as the Southern Gothic, I would think Augusta Trobaugh should be known as the Southern Hope.

taking a look at the Southern culture through the eyes of a fourteen year-old girl.

Characters and the storytelling.

read this author's other books.

is Augusta Trobaugh. Her other two books are:
The Tea-Olive Bird Watching Society, Sophie and the Rising Sun

it is easy reading though the content is sophisticated and the story grabs the reader's heart together with her/his attention.

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Created Mar 29, 2015 at 7:56pm • Submit your own review...