cover image Juno’s Swans

Juno’s Swans

Tamsen Wolff. Europa, $17 trade paper (270p) ISBN 978-1-609-45466-1

Wolff’s debut novel is a riveting account of first love. In the summer of 1988, between Nina’s junior and senior year of high school in Vermont, she jumps at the chance to run away from an illicit relationship with her English teacher, enrolls in an acting course on Cape Cod, and heads to the Cape with her best friend, Titch. On their first weekend there, Nina meets Sarah, a talented but distant teaching assistant in her late 20s, and quickly becomes infatuated with her, leaving Titch in the lurch. With Sarah, future possibilities seem endless, and the realities of Nina’s life at home quickly fade: the death of her grandfather, the deteriorating health of her grandmother, the frequent absences of her mother, and her father’s abandonment of the family. Yet from the novel’s very first sentence, “Sarah says she’s in love with someone else,” the narrative is centered on heartbreak. As Nina’s relationship with Sarah unravels, America unravels in the backdrop as well, with the AIDS epidemic and cultural tensions roiling the nation. Although Nina is keenly aware of the political landscape, Wolff’s crushing novel is ultimately a very personal story, vividly rendered in a montage of memories. Considering both romantic and platonic female relationships, Wolff explores the necessity of lived (instead of studied) experience and the lasting importance of loved ones. Agent: Stacy Testa, Writers House. (Sept.)