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    Swift River: A Read with Jenna Pick
    Swift River: A Read with Jenna Pick
    Swift River: A Read with Jenna Pick
    Audiobook10 hours

    Swift River: A Read with Jenna Pick

    Written by Essie Chambers

    Narrated by Shayna Small, Janina Edwards and Robin Miles

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    2024 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize Winner
    Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
    Longlisted for The Center for Fiction 2024 First Novel Prize

    A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK | A National Bestseller | One of The Washington Post's Best Books of 2024 | An NPR Best Book of 2024 | An Elle Best Book of 2024 | A Boston Globe Best Book of 2024

    “The book we all need to revive our souls” (Nicole Dennis-Benn): A sweeping family saga about the complicated bond between mothers and daughters, the disappearance of a father, and the long-hidden history of a declining New England mill town.

    “A powerful novel about how our family history shapes us. Swift River broke my heart, and then offered me hope.” —Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful

    It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

    But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?

    A story of first friendships, family secrets, and finding the courage to let go, Swift River is a sensational debut about how history shapes us and heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.

    Editor's Note

    Full of clarity and acuity…

    In this Read with Jenna book club pick, teenager Diamond Newberry feels like she’s drowning in a current of microaggressions and fatphobia in Swift River, a working-class, otherwise all-white New England town in the late 1980s. Ultimately, the river of life takes Diamond, who’s mixed-race, on a winding journey connecting her to unknown and distant relatives. Debut author Chambers, producer of the documentary “Descendant” and mixed-race herself, writes with the clarity and acuity acquired from personal experience and extensive research.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateJun 4, 2024
    ISBN9781797174563
    Author

    Essie Chambers

    Essie Chambers earned her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Vermont Studio Center, and Baldwin for the Arts. A former film and television executive, she was a producer on the documentary Descendant, which was released by the Obamas’ Higher Ground production company and Netflix in 2022. Swift River is her debut novel. 

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