After brilliantly reimagining the worlds of Oz, Wonderland, Dickensian
London, and the Nutcracker, the New York Times bestselling author of
Wicked turns his unconventional genius to Hans Christian Andersen's
"The Wild Swans," transforming this classic tale into an
Italian-American girl's poignant coming-of-age story, set amid the magic
of Christmas in 1960s New York.
Following her brother's death and her mother's emotional breakdown,
Laura now lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a lonely
townhouse she shares with her old-world, strict, often querulous
grandparents. But the arrangement may be temporary. The quiet, awkward
teenager has been getting into trouble at home and has been expelled
from her high school for throwing a record album at a popular girl who
bullied her. When Christmas is over and the new year begins, Laura may
find herself at boarding school in Montreal.
Nearly unmoored from reality through her panic and submerged grief,
Laura is startled when a handsome swan boy with only one wing lands on
her roof. Hiding him from her ever-bickering grandparents, Laura tries
to build the swan boy a wing so he can fly home. But the task is too
difficult to accomplish herself. Little does Laura know that her
struggle to find help for her new friend parallels that of her
grandparents, who are desperate for a distant relative's financial aid
to save the family store.
As he explores themes of class, isolation, family, and the dangerous
yearning to be saved by a power greater than ourselves, Gregory Maguire
conjures a haunting, beautiful tale of magical realism that illuminates
one young woman's heartbreak and hope as she begins the inevitable
journey to adulthood.
