Publishers Weekly
04/08/2024
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. Agent: Julie Barer, Book Group. (June)
From the Publisher
A Most Anticipated Book from Time, Real Simple, Los Angeles Times and Today
“A heartbreaking, yet hopeful coming of age story about the high cost of family secrets.”—Time
“Rich and insightful.... Chambers is particularly skilled at depicting the way frustration and affection intertwine.... A frank examination of family mystery and loss, set in a landscape of economic and racial turmoil.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Chambers’ funny debut is set in a 1980s New England mill town in decline. Seven years after her father’s disappearance, Diamond Newberry and her mother are struggling, but Diamond’s observations provide comic leavening. During the summer of 1987, her mom files to have Pop declared dead, which is when things get complicated. Diamond receives a letter from an unknown relative, which starts her on a path to learn her family — and the nation’s — history.”—The Los Angeles Times
“A deeply moving portrayal of a girl you will absolutely fall for and cheer on through every scene of this remarkable debut.”—Real Simple
“Insightful, moving, and wryly funny, Chambers’ debut is sure to be a book club favorite.”—Booklist, starred review
“This novel’s assured plotting and emotional resonance should render it a breakout book. Call your book club: This symphonic debut is your next read.”—Kirkus
“A poignant coming-of-age story about a Black girl growing up in a predominantly white New England town north of Boston in 1987.... Chambers’s assured first novel sings.”—Publishers Weekly
“A mesmerizing account of inherited trauma in what was once a sundown town. Diamond is a gutsy girl with a keen intellect and an irrepressible, hopeful outlook, and her often-humorous narration is the novel’s central, propelling force. Chambers masterfully delivers the message of Swift River: ‘Our instincts, our deepest intuitions, are really our ancestral memory; our people speaking through us.’”—BookPage
“Darkly funny and fiery, heartbreaking and healing, with language so gorgeous I went back to read sentences again and again. What a beautiful debut.”—JACQUELINE WOODSON, National Book Award winning author
“In the tradition of all great mother-daughter stories, Swift River is complicated, frank, yet infused with that satisfying feeling one gets when you realize the missing piece to the puzzle is a sense of self. Page by beautifully vibrant page, Swift River comes at you in whirring Kodachrome snapshots of memory, classic rock, and hidden New England lore. A sensational debut.”—PAUL BEATTY, author of Man Booker Award winning novel The Sellout
“A powerful novel about how our family history shapes us; it is only when Diamond learns about the women that came before her—their strengths and losses mirroring her own—that she can finally imagine a better future for herself. Swift River broke my heart, and then offered me hope.”—ANN NAPOLITANO, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful
“Truly amazing. Such an incredible blend of intimate and epic, so smart and funny and honest and generous-spirited. I like plenty of books but I love a novel this much maybe just once or twice a year.”—CURTIS SITTENFELD, New York Times bestselling author of Romantic Comedy
“Swift River is the book we all need to revive our souls. It’s told with such grace, humor, and above all, heart. I could follow Diamond and her captivating journey forever. It’s heartbreaking. It’s beautiful. This epic novel deserves all the attention in the world. A must read!” —NICOLE DENNIS-BENN, award-winning author of Patsy and Here Comes the Sun
“Swift River is a tender coming-of-age novel, a story of grief both personal and historical, one told with warmth and humor by a memorable, irrepressible heroine. Essie Chambers writes powerfully about the bonds of family, the many ways people fail and save one another, and the human instinct for resilience.”—RUMAAN ALAM, author of National Book Award finalist Leave the World Behind
“Swift River is a fearless, cinematic exploration of loss and inheritance, written with fierce urgency and overflowing compassion. From the very first image of river-mud-caked shoes, Diamond’s story—part coming of age, part epistolarian excavation of grief— instantly pulled me in and held me close through an addicting mix of hope and suspense.”—XOCHITL GONZALEZ, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
“Essie Chambers masterfully weaves this story together, building characters and worlds so real I felt pangs of nostalgia while turning the pages. This is a voice I’d follow anywhere.” —DAWNIE WALTON, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
Kirkus Reviews
2024-04-05
A biracial teenager longs for a different future as she faces her family’s past and the buried secrets of her hometown.
“When you have a terrible thing happen that everyone knows about,” 16-year-old Diamond Newberry tells us, “you can be laid out flat by anyone.” It’s 1987 and she’s stuck in Swift River, a decaying New England mill town, laid out flat by just about everyone. At nearly 300 pounds and the only person of color in town, Diamond has been lonely most of her life. The “terrible thing” that hangs over her is her father Rob’s mysterious disappearance in 1980. Rob, who is Black, had been the subject of police scrutiny in the time just before his sneakers were found by the riverside, and Diamond struggles to separate rumors of his fate from fact. Since seven years have passed, Diamond’s mother, Annabelle, who is white, tries to get Rob declared legally dead in order to receive desperately needed life insurance money. But when a letter for Diamond arrives from Rob’s cousin, Diamond realizes how disconnected she’s felt from her father’s family and her “people,” having grown up hearing whispers about a single night in the early 20th century known as “The Leaving,” when all the Black mill workers planned to flee Swift River en masse. Chambers toggles between 1980 and 1987, while also immersing readers, via family letters, in Swift River Valley circa 1915, to tell a coming-of-age story that shows that our entry into adulthood carries with it all the weight of our family history and that of the places we come from. Despite a somewhat inelegant handling of Diamond’s weight, this novel’s assured plotting and emotional resonance should render it a breakout book.
Call your book club: This symphonic debut is your next read.
