Swift River
A Read with Jenna Pick
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3.7 • 59 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK | A National Bestseller | Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize | One of The Washington Post's Best Books of 2024 | An NPR Best Book of 2024 | An Elle Best Book of 2024 | A Boston Globe Best Book of 2024 | An NAACP Image Award Nominee
“A book we all need to revive our souls” (Nicole Dennis-Benn): A “powerful novel…[that] broke my heart, and then offered me hope” (Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful) about a complicated bond between mothers and daughters, the disappearance of a father, and the long-hidden history of a declining New England mill town.
It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.
But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?
A “sparkling” (The Washington Post), “poetic, and propulsive” (NPR) debut of first friendships, family secrets, and finding the courage to let go, Swift River heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A teenager learns about her family’s past and struggles to navigate her future in this story of coming of age while grappling with race and class. It’s 1987, and Diamond Newberry is literally the only Black person in Swift River, Massachusetts, since her father vanished seven years ago. Her weight makes her stand out even more, and her loving but eccentric mother can barely hold the household together. Amid all this difficulty, Diamond begins corresponding with her Auntie Lena, whose letters share the sweet and painful sides of their family’s history. Debut novelist Essie Chambers paints a loving, unblinking portrait of life in small-town Massachusetts in both the 1980s and the 1910s. She made us relate to Diamond in a deep way, especially when it came to her experiences dealing with her unreliable mom. Swift River is an often moving, occasionally shocking portrait of love, family, and the legacies we live with.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chambers debuts with a poignant coming-of-age story about a Black girl growing up in a predominantly white New England town north of Boston in 1987. It's the summer before Diamond Newberry's junior year of high school, and she and her Irish American mother, Annabelle, have been struggling to make ends meet since her father, Robert, disappeared seven years ago, when only his shoes and wallet were found on the side of the river. Knowing Annabelle would disapprove, Diamond secretly works at a motel to save money for driver's ed lessons. After she befriends fellow student Shelly Ostrowski, the two begin making plans to move to Florida together following graduation. Diamond's impulse to start a new life is driven partly by her mother's continued struggle to obtain a death certificate for Robert, which they need for the life insurance benefit, and by Annabelle's hurtful scrutiny. While plotting to leave, Diamond also exchanges letters with her father's cousin Clara, who raised him. From Clara, Diamond learns more about the Black side of her family, and why they left town for Canada. Tension mounts as Diamond struggles to find a way forward and her bond with Annabelle stretches to its breaking point. Adding to the story's depth are complex characterizations and intriguing epistolary interjections from Clara. Chambers's assured first novel sings.
Customer Reviews
Brilliant Debut!!
Swift River is a delicious debut novel that satisfies and also wets your appetite for more clever and expertly crafted prose from author, Essie J. Chambers.
There’s so much to savor as you read Swift River and you will find yourself quickly immersed in the world of Diamond, a young Black teen coming of age in a New England mill town with an unsavory past.
Diamond has an irreverent, outsider point of view. She wades so deeply into the goo that binds mother and daughter relationships together that it seems as if it might stunt her growth, until a letter arrives from an unlikely relative and changes her life forever!
Swift River is a MUST read that entertains, informs, inspires, heals and reconnects us to the Diamond that lives within us all.