Swan

by Frances Mayes

Los Mason son una familia importante desde hace generaciones para el idílico y conservador pueblecito de Swan, en el estado de Georgia. Un día, el cuerpo de Catherine Mason, muerta por sucidio diecinueve años atrás, aparece enigmáticamente exhumado. Es el tipo de noticia, espeluznante y asombrosa, capaz de animar Swan, y de reunir a los dos hijos de Ginger, que vendrá desde Italia donde trabaja como arqueóloga y J.J., recluido a pocos kilómetros de su localidad natal en su pequeño mundo de la caza y la pesca. A medida que los dos hermanos van hilvanando retazos de su pasado, descubren otro Swan, plagado de excentricidades, viejos resentimientos y asuntos turbios, como una nueva explicación para la muerte de Catherine y otros secretos familiares celosamente guardados. Los misterios más profundos, los del alma, están cautivos en la memoria de los habitantes de Swan; la fuerza del amor, la confianza y la intuición de Ginger son la llave que puede liberarlos. En Swan, como en sus libros sobre Toscana, Frances Mayes evoca de manera exquisita la vida cotidiana y realiza una hábil disección de la complejidad de los vínculos familiares. La escritura de Mayes pule una trama en la que no faltan una acertada dosis de humor y un delicado oído que evoca el paisaje mítico del Sur, cuajado de violencia y encanto.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Southern, Novels, Family, Thriller, Book Club

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Frances Mayes's new book is See You in the Piazza: New Places to Discover in Italy published by Crown. Her most recent novel is Women in Sunlight, published by Crown and available in paperback in spring 2019. With her husband, Edward Mayes she recently published The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Every Day in Tuscany is the third volume in her bestselling Tuscany memoir series.

In addition to her Tuscany memoirs, Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany , Frances Mayes is the author of the memoirs Under Magnolia: A Southern Memoir; A Year in the World; the illustrated books In Tuscany and Bringing Tuscany Home; Swan, a novel; The Discovery of Poetry, a text for readers; and five books of poetry. She divides her time between homes in Italy and North Carolina.

Reviews

[Dottie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well -- let's just say that the critiques of this book are misleading. This is a fine light, romantic Southern gothic tale of family members who don't always know the whole story and is told in Mayes usual fine style and language. Made for good reading in my opinion.

[Noella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als kind vindt Ginger Mason haar moeder op de keukenvloer, doodgeschoten. Iedereen denkt dat het zelfmoord is. Het leven van Ginger en haar broer J.J. staat helemaal op zijn kop, en de kinderen worden opgevoed door hun tante Lily, een broer van hun vader, die na de dood van zijn vrouw aan de drank geraakt en uiteindelijk een hersenbloeding krijgt en in een rusthuis belandt.
Vele jaren later, de tijd waarin het verhaal zich afspeelt, is door een grafschenner het lijk van Catherine Mason opgegraven. De politie onderzoekt de zaak, en nu komt men tot de vaststelling dat Catherine onmogelijk zelfmoord kon hebben gepleegd, de hoek van de kogelinslag klopt niet. Een nieuw onderzoek wordt geopend en het leven van Ginger en J.J. staat opnieuw op zijn kop.
Doorheen het verhaal komen we meer te weten over de jeugd van de Masons, en ook leren we verschillende personages uit Swan kennen. De persoonlijkheid van Catherine wordt uit het oogpunt van verschillende van haar vrienden en kennissen toegelicht.
Wat ik niet zo leuk vond, was het 'open' einde. Eigenlijk is er niets opgelost, er is alleen een vermoeden wie de moordenaar zou kunnen geweest zijn, en ook slechts een vermoeden wie het lichaam terug opgegraven heeft. In het boek komen nog andere mysteries aan bod, die ook onopgelost blijven.
Ik denk dat het de bedoeling van de schrijfster was om over te brengen dat het verleden er eigenlijk niet meer toe doet, dat alleen het heden belangrijk is. Zelfs over de mogelijke toekomstplannen van Ginger en J.J. wordt geen uitsluitsel gegeven.
Nee, ik had meer verwacht van dit boek, het geeft me echt het gevoel dat het niet 'af' is.

[Barner · Rating 5 out of 5]

It appears I like this novel more than other readers: I LOVED it. Francis Mayes, author of "Under the Tuscan Sun," has written a novel taking place at an archelogical dig in Itlay, a humid, small town of Swan, Georgia, and, finally, Palo Alto, Ca. A brother and sister, close in their appreciation and love for one another, are survivors of family tragedies, and the events of the book give them an opportunity to re-define their love for and understanding of their parents and their knowledge of themselves. The language of the novel is beautiful, the many descriptions poetic, and though not all the ends are tightly woven at the tale's end, there is joy and opportunity awaiting the main characters. Granted some of the events are bizarre, but this is a GOOD read. The interrelationships of the various people in the small town are probably too real. I recommend this one.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts out well and remains interesting until the end when the author seems to just want to end the book. She also kept adding characters and giving them meaningless chapters. The main characters find out after 20 yrs that their mother was murdered rather than committed suicide and they are just like "whew I feel better knowing that" and just go on with their lives.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swan, a small Southern Georgia town is home to the Mason Family;who has lived there for generations.
A peculair event brought Ginger Mason home from Italy to try to understand what really happened in the local cemetery.
Her Mother had died over nineteen years earlier of an aparent self inflicted gun shot wound. Now there were doubts after the coffin was exhaumed by vandals.
Ginger and her brother J.J. sort through the memories of their mother.

[L'aura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I didn't like it. The premise of the story is a good one perhaps, but I found the characters weak and the story disjointed. There is no "grab" to get the reader interested...to read five chapters and not find anything of interest except to catch glimpses of unrelated events. Sorry, but no vote here.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story itself was good, moved a liitle slowly, like a hot, humid Georgia summer, which when the story takes place. The ending however was very dissappointing, it just stopped. There were still things left unfifnshed.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found myself asking" what's the point?". The story just didn't seem to go anywhere.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Frances Mayes non-fiction. Her Tuscany books are beautifully written. Swan is her first attempt at fiction. She should stick to non-fiction.

Not that this book was bad. It's a nice book, but nothing happens. In her non-fiction books, nothing has to happen to make a-day-in-the-life interesting. But when it comes to fiction, things have to happen to progress the story.

That's okay. I'll pick up her non-fictions and read them again and again any day.

[Lynn Shurden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. The author made the transition from Italy to Georgia easy to follow, and the hint of mystery of what really happened to Catherine was never resolved in my mind. And did J.J. go back to California to pursue his love interest.? Is there another follow-up book? So many questions, which makes me more interested in following other books with this author.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow and unexciting read...and then all of a sudden it ended leaving only implied answers to all the questions posed by the plot.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This slow moving book recalls life in a small town in Georgia. Generations of family and friends bog down as the book progresses. Interesting in the end but a loose conclusion.

[Ppflieger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very disappointed in the ending - seemed rather abrupt and it didn't answer the question as to who and why the body was exhumed from the grave.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Expected to like this one more than I did

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit slow in parts and ending sort of unresolved...

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Took a while to get into the story. The ending dropped off and left unresolved issues.

[Dora Okeyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The feeling I got from reading this book was like having warm butter melting in my mouth.

I know that sounds a bit flowery but where there is a tragic event that scarred a family, I’m all in, eager to know what happened, when it happened and more so how the family talk about it.

Now, here with Catherine Mason gone- her husband in a nursing home unaware of his surroundings, there are her children: Ginger, an Architect, and J.J. well…he’s the one who loves his time alone in the woods. It’s a beautiful tale of two children who are grieving their mother, their childhood and most of all…a family that’s looking to deal with a tragedy they never saw coming.

I loved the insights on the characters. They are as complex as they are unraveled but you can’t help but enjoy how crisp the author brings this to light.

Lily had opinions but refused to examine them. p.136

The events in the story take place in 7 days or so from July 7, 1975 to July 14.

I could relate to J.J at some point when he said: “You know how a fish sounds when it leaps out of water? If I could write that in a word, I’d know how to be a Writer. Or like the bee, that sizzling sound when it goes back to the swarm. Words are all you have to write with and most things don’t go into words.”

I’d give this 4-stars. However, a dramatic part of me wished for a different ending, but all’s well that ends well.
You can buy a copy of this book on: Amazon

[Rachel Whelan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frances Mayes makes a sweeping effort to capture the after effects of an exhumed body in a small town in Georgia. The primary family affected discovers more and more about their mother's life, her death previously ruled a suicide. The core plot of the novel would have been better served by a novella rather than such a lengthy book. It was not until I read the reading guide questions in the back that I realized swan was intended to capture the feelings of people in the entire town, rather than just focus on the Mason family. Though. Her writing is lush and evocative of small town southern summer, the character is moving in and out of off scene are not as effective as they could be. I felt at times that I needed a family tree just to Rather than who was just a random character being invoked. So much of the novel is spent on characters experiencing some feeling Rather than propulsion forward in the story. I think an exploration of the Mason family alone would have been enough.
It was also a little unnerving that the Southern dialect was only written out literally for Black characters. Presumably members of the Mason family and other white characters also speak with a similar dialect. It seemed unnecessary to differentiate the Black characters in this way.

[Susan DeNyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this tremendously. Her writing drew me into the charm of a small southern Georgia town. I was drawn into the mystery of the exhumation of the two main characters’ mother after 19 years in the grave. I liked the characters. I LOVED the descriptions of Swan and its inhabitants.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though it took me an inordinately long time to read this book, I did like it quite a bit. It contains aspects of a family drama, a mystery, and a Southern small town cautionary tale. The story starts out with a bizarre incident of Lily and her friend visiting the graveyard and finding Lily's sister-in-law's body exhumed outside her grave, and her father's gravestone desecrated. Lily's niece is summoned back from Italy and an investigation is launched.
J.J. and Ginger have lived their whole lives under the stigma of having a mother who committed suicide when they were young children. Their father, a respected doctor, had a stoke shortly afterwards and their aunt Lily raised them with the help of her black maid Tessie. J.J. and Ginger have grown up totally dependent on each other and never recovered from their mother's death. They have great difficulty forming close relationships, making commitments, and giving up their independence as a result of their early loss.
Life in a small Southern town is portrayed with great detail. There is a lot of curiosity as to what really happened now and in the past. As more evidence comes to light, with better crime analysis possible, past conclusions are discarded and new solutions sought. New witnesses finally come forth and the truth of Catherine's suicide comes out. I liked that not everything was neatly wrapped up, but it ended on a note of positivism.

[Pam Coon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of the small town of Swan, Georgia, deep in the south and central characters Ginger and J.J., young adults in their late 20's/early 30's, likable characters who experienced the all too early demise of their beautiful and talented mother, Catherine, who committed suicide when Ginger was just 12 years old. But all is not as it seems, when Lily and Eleanor, close elderly friends who discover Catherine's grave which is utterly exposed and her body upturned and visible. This creates an examination that, 20 years later, results in the determination that she was murdered, not by her own hand. This gives immense relief to her two grown children, but the question remains - who killed her? I wanted to like this book - it is written well - but is missing a conclusion. The reader is left with questions and with the thought that the author couldn't figure it out either. This could be such a good story, but its missing pieces leave too much out.

[Naturegirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVE all of Frances Mayes' books and this was no exception. I went into this concerned that I wouldn't love her fiction as much as I enjoy her stories of Tuscany, but what a fabulous story. The setting is Georgia after a grim discovery of a woman unearthed from her grave. The children of this woman were told she had committed suicide, but upon further discovery, it was found that she was murdered, a relief to them after so many years. The characters in this book are so well developed, and I became quite attached to them in the story. Ginger, the daughter lives in Italy, having escaped her southern roots for a different world. JJ, the son, struggles with his inner life and relationships until he begins to find healing as he learns about his parents' past.

Such a great story of "coming home" with a little bit of mystery wound in.

[Kathie Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate to admit that I did not know this author wrote the book Under the Tuscan Sun because I had only seen the movie. (Because books are ALWAYS better as we all know!). But assuming that book is even more lyrical than the movie is a good bet, it is true she can certainly make Italy come alive. And Frances Mayes does it here with the 1975 South!

The story itself seems to be only a framework for the locale and the characters. And that was fine with me because they were spot on. Maybe you must have been raised in the South to appreciate this as much as I did. Maybe you just have to love writing and romance - the kind that is excitement and mystery and remoteness from everyday life. I know I am recommending it to several friends!

[Lisa Carlsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had some nice features, but overall it felt like the author went overboard with too, too many characters. Mayes clearly loved her story, and loved the town she created, but I failed to see the relevance of some of the people she "brought to life." It distracted me from what should have been an interesting storyline.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frances Mayes evokes life in the Deep South with the skill she has already used to such effect in Under the Tuscan Sun. Once again she brings to life the landscape, the people and the food with affection and at the same time unravels the events leading to the desecration of a family grave. However the mystery is not the point of the book - the people are.

[Catherine Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delightful read, with characters that really grow on you and a plot that thickens the longer it goes on. This is beautifully written and I love how many delicious foods are peppered throughout, spot the cookbook author!

[Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given my love of Frances Mayes' writing, I must admit to being a little disappointed in this one. It is her first novel and I'm late getting to it. However, had I read it prior to several of her more current efforts, I'd probably been more enthralled. The quality of her writing per se is fine; still smooth and reassuring. I think my disappointment was more that we didn't linger in Tuscany, but moved on to a rather steamy town in Georgia. The storyline was interesting enough. The small town of Swan is home to the Mason family. Mother Catherine has been dead for 19 years, her life taken by her own hand. Father Wills is living in a senior home suffering from a stroke and what appears to be dementia. Ginger, the daughter, has escaped to Tuscany to work on an archaeological dig and her brother, JJ, is a very bright, troubled recluse who lives in the family cabin by a river. The story begins when Catherine is discovered exhumed from her grave and left to be discovered! A separate family gravestone of the grandfather has been vandalized as well. Ginger leaves Tuscany to return to this family turmoil .... and on you go. The writing is so accurately descriptive that one can nearly feel the oppressive heat and humidity of Swan. So, readers, take it from there and learn the answer to the 'who done it?'.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Swan by Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, establishes itself quickly as a Southern gothic novel, the only novel Mayes has written to go along with her memoirs and poetry. The tale starts off promising enough with the bizarre exhumation of J.J. and Ginny’s mother Catherine, who was buried 19 years ago after an apparent suicide. Nothing like this has ever happened in Swan, Georgia, before causing the local sheriff to call in for help from the Georgia State Police.

Since J.J. and Ginny were children at the time of their mother’s death, they were deeply scarred by the event. J.J. retreated to the family cabin after graduating from college, and Ginny headed to Italy to do some hands-on work toward her advanced college degree. Both are called “home,” upon the discovery of their mother’s remains outside of her grave.

Some enlightening news from the sheriff along with some information pieced together from Catherine’s journals and a piece of film provide the siblings with a revised version of what happened one afternoon that ended Catherine’s life.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the book until the ending, the unresolved plot elements leave something to be desired. The book feels unfinished.

Born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, Frances Mayes has homes in both Italy and North Carolina.

[Nd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike the beautiful Italian settings of previous Frances Mayes books, this book gives only a small glimpse of Italy when Ginger Mason is forced to leave her archaeological expedition and Italian partner, Marco, to return to her home and family in the fictional mid-south Georgia town of Swan. In true southern gothic fashion, a family friend who regularly visits her own husband's grave, discovered Ginger and her brother J.J.'s mother, Catherine, unearthed and exposed one morning, looking much as she had when they were very young children and she was buried. During the investigation, Catherine's suicide, which nearly everyone who knew her had thought impossible at the time, was in question. Suspicions are high as characters think through their relationships with Catherine and because of the inquiries of Sheriff Hunnicutt, grandson of the man who was sheriff when she died. The guilt, hurt, blame, and shame borne by the Mason family and friends, and particularly the inertia affecting Ginger, J.J., and their aunt Lily who raised them after the death of their mother and the disintegration of their father, began to lift from them as they learn more about Catherine from her journals and old friends.

[Maria Jesus N · Rating 3 out of 5]

En general me ha gustado, aunque en las 150 últimas páginas creo que la historia se pierde en subtramas menos interesantes y que alteran el ritmo de la historia. Esa capacidad que tiene la escritora para evocar imágenes llenas de color, de luz, de armonía, se diluye un poco.
Pero en general me gusta como está contada la historia, como en sus libros de la Toscana, puedes casi ver el reflejo del sol en el agua, oler los melocotones maduros y tantas flores, flores por todas partes dejando su aroma y su belleza. Los personajes, al menos los principales, tienen profundidad, tienen sus conflictos, todo eso les hace más creibles, te pide que sigas leyendo y la historia es creible e interesante y no importa tanto el desenlace como el camino recorrido hasta llegar a él.