2023 book 74

 Peg Kerr's The Wild Swans

I really liked Emerald House Rising, so wanted to try this other book by Kerr, and I might have liked it even more? It’s a retelling of the fairy tale about the girl with the eleven cursed swan brothers, set in 1600s England, but it’s interwoven with the story of an eighteen year-old boy who's been kicked out of home for being gay, and eventually he finds a community and love. But…. it's New York in the early 80s and the AIDS crisis is looming. I was SOBBING BUCKETS. The modern storyline is a little more compelling, but I enjoyed the whole (my only complaint is also one I have with Shakespeare [lol]—why is it a happy ending for a woman to get back with a man who accused her of a horrible crime? But that’s how fairy talked and Shakespeare stories go, I guess). But anyway, subbing buckets. It does seem like Kerr only published these two novels and I think that’s a shame, they were both so good. A.