“Mute Swans is a moving family drama with captivating plot twists.”
— Bookbrowse.”
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MUTE SWANS
“A thoughtful, emotional read with strong, interesting characters.” — LoveReading
“Mute Swans is a moving family drama with captivating plot twists.” — BookBrowse
“A story that pulls you in and won’t let go, even after you’ve turned the last page.” — Peter Benson, author of The Levels
Perfect for readers of Anne Tyler, Joanna Trollope, and Rachel Joyce.
A moving family drama about marriage, secrets, and the second chances that can change a life.
Has an uncovered past made their future uncertain?
When Miriam is handed her mother’s memory journal, she expects a quiet keepsake of the past. Instead, its pages unravel the romantic myth of her parents’ marriage, and expose the cracks in her own.
As her mother’s dementia deepens, Miriam is forced to confront a family history she thought she knew. Secrets from post-war austerity to the swinging sixties surface, with past choices continuing to shape the lives of those she loves.
Trapped in the suffocating silence of a failing marriage to her rigid husband, Michael, Miriam finds herself questioning everything she believes about love, loyalty, and family.
Then a chance encounter offers something she thought she had lost forever: a genuine connection and the fragile possibility of a second chance.
But moving forward means finding the courage to dismantle the past.
Spanning generations between the coast of Devon and the vibrant streets of Brighton, Mute Swans is a deeply moving, richly layered novel about family secrets, later-in-life love, and the quiet courage it takes to change the course of a life.
This unflinching yet compassionate story contains complex adult themes, including dementia, sexual coercion, and frank depictions of emotional and physical disconnection within a long marriage.
“As everyone knows, families are chaotic, flawed, tender,
crazy, devoted, outrageous and loving. This novel – like the people at its heart – is all these things and more.”
—PETER BENSON,
winner of The Guardian Fiction Prize
