Swan Bay: A Novel of Destiny, Desire and Death

by Rod Jones

Swan Bay tells the story of a reclusive “ex-author” living in an out of the way, picturesque escapist community by the water, and how his life changes when Virgil Mckenzie moves in next door. Virgil is a grey haired 30 year old woman who lives on the very edge of life and interrupts her neighbours isolated existence. She has regular visits by old friends, the Naseby’s, who look after her and slowly bit by bit Virgil and the Naseby’s story, and its implications on the characters present lives unfolds. Does every life have a feted fault line waiting, is there some place where destiny is decided?

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Rod Jones is an award-winning Australian novelist. He was writer in residence at La Trobe University for four years, and has also been the Australia Council's writer in residence in Paris.
He studied English and History at the University of Melbourne.

Reviews

[SHR · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this novella to be drowning in description and metaphor, one chapter has an entire page of pure description, which sets atmosphere but doesn’t progress the story in any way.

The story centres on Virgil, a young woman, who is dying, and moves in next door to the narrator, an ex-writer, whose name we are never told. Virgil is visited weekly by her friends, Marcus and Lolita; the three met in university.

The story contains illness, pain, death, adultery, miscarriage, madness, loneliness, friendship and human nature. It should be a lot more interesting that it was. I found it too florid and somewhat pretentious. There were some nice moments but not enough to make up for the time invested.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very strange book. The subject matter was quite strange and Virgil was a bizzare person altogether. A quick read for a rainy day.