Ophelia Swam: An Oxford Novel

by Kelley Swain, Eleanor Crook (Illustrator)

What is the weight of the soul?
The cost of redemption?
The meaning of home?

Oxford, 1538

Sister Grace, Infirmaress of Godstow Nunnery, is faced with helping an unexpected guest: a half-drowned young woman, covered in garlands of flowers and herbs.

When the girl proves unusually adept at healing remedies, Sister Grace takes her on as an apprentice. But helping with an emergency amputation turns the girl's interest from matters herbal, to anatomical, as she is compelled to discover the seat of the soul...

A Gothic romance set in Tudor England's time of upheaval and uncertainty, Ophelia Swam is an illuminating tale of love, grief, and sisterhood, spanning generations of healers.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, British Literature

304 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2021

About the author

Kelley Swain lives in rural Oxfordshire. She is a freelance writer and critic, and contributes regularly to The Lancet medical journals' arts and culture pages.

In 2016, she was one of three poets-in-residence at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, and was artist-in-residence at Duke University for November 2016.

The Naked Muse, Kelley's memoir of working as an artists' model, was published in 2016.

Kelley was Guest Lecturer in Humanities in Global Health for three years, at Imperial College London.

She is the author of the poetry collections Atlantic (Cinnamon Press, 2014), Opera di Cera (Valley Press, 2014), Darwin's Microscope (Flambard Press, 2009). Her debut novel, Double the Stars, was by Cinnamon Press in September 2014.

From 2009 - 2012, while poet-in-residence at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, Kelley edited two collections of art and poetry: Pocket Horizon (Valley Press, 2013), and The Rules of Form: Sonnets and Slide Rules (Whipple Museum, 2012).

She is a member of the Greenwich-based Nevada Street Poets, which has been running since 2008.

Reviews

[eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

i now have joint fave books: the elegance of the hedgehog & THIS! i knew this was going to be good BUT oh my god. the imagery was perfect, the storytelling was perfect, the characterisation was perfect! i loved the exploration of herbal cures vs modern medicine & just ophelia🥰 she’s my favourite literary character for a very, very good reason! if u know me i will be forcing this book on you until u read it bcos🥺🥺🥺🥺

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written and illustrated historical novel with an imaginative premise. What if Ophelia, from Shakespeare's Hamlet, did not drown but floated down the river to a convent in Oxford in 1538? Rescued by Sister Grace, the covent's herbalist, Ophelia slowly recovers from her trauma, participating in the life of the convent and learning the art of healing from Sister Grace. But as Henry VIII dissolves religious houses, life changes for the nuns of the small convent, sending them on different paths. Told alternately by Sister Grace and Ophelia, this historically accurate novel explores love, grief, healing, and the bond between women.

[Ciel_Ortie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful re-imagining of a beloved Shakespearian heroine turned Herbwife, and a love letter to Oxford. I was hoping the novel would turn out more gothic, as it had the right premises, following Ophelia’s quest, but the narrative went somewhere else. Very atmospheric first part, not so sure about the second one.

[Valerie Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit slow in the beginning but beautifully written all throughout.

[Hotmoneygold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful book - like a meditation in writing with a good story.

[Aaron Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The language is beautiful, and the appreciation for the landscapes around Oxford is clear throughout. Kelley Swain is a wonderfully evocative writer, and the book is a love letter to the green land northwest of the city. However, like the river that flows by Godstow, Ophelia Swam meanders and flounders throughout the first act, a portrait of life in the nunnery before anything of substance occurs that sets the plot forward. The book would have been much richer and engaging with a more plot-oriented first half.

[Sonia Gensler]

Loved this book and wrote about it at the blog: https://soniagensler.com/august-tea-a...

[Obviously the giveaway has long been over with.)

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful descriptions of flowers, herbs, the landscape. The language was evocative of 16th century England and reading it, it was easy for me to forget that I’m living in the 21st century.

[Ellen Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, evocative story of Godstow’s nunnery, told through the perspective of Hamlet’s Ophelia in an imagined second-life. Haunting writing and vivid imagery of Tudor Oxford.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the prose - very relaxing and enjoyable to read.

[Isabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 but let's round it up. Because hell yes female bonds and friendships. Beautifully written.

[Madhuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written and evocative of the time

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinary. Ophelia Swan is an exquisitely written, thoughtful, and subtle homage to the magic of nature, Oxford, and the shifts of life.

[Samantha]

Recommended by Ruby Granger

[Madeleine Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written