Cygnet: 'A clear-sighted, poignant rumination on loneliness, love, the melancholy of age'
Season Butler
Mar 2019 · Dialogue Books · Narrated by Ayesha Antoine
headphones
Audiobook
6 hr 36 min
Unabridged
family_home
Eligible
info
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
Want a 39 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.
Add
About this audiobook
WINNER OF THE WRITERS' GUILD FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2020
ELLE ONES TO WATCH 2019
'Terribly moving. A clear-sighted, poignant rumination on loneliness, love, the melancholy of age and of youth' China Mieville
'An imaginative, atmospheric and original novel that lingers in the memory long after reading' Bernadine Evaristo
'A sad, funny, highly original novel' Blake Morrison
'Wholeheartedly enjoy(able)' Lauren Wilkinson, The Millions
'Season Butler is an extraordinary writer. Like Colson Whitehead, her work is fearless in its inventiveness' Julia Bell
__________________________________________________________
It's too hot for most of the clothes I packed to come here, when I thought this would only be for a week or two. My mother kissed me with those purple-brown lips of hers and said, we'll be back, hold tight.
The Kid doesn't know where her parents are. They left with a promise to come back months ago, and now their seventeen-year-old daughter is stranded on Swan Island.
Swan isn't just any island; it is home to an eccentric old age separatist community who have shunned life on the mainland for a haven which is rapidly sinking into the ocean. The Kid's arrival threatens to burst the idyllic bubble that the elderly residents have so carefully constructed - an unwelcome reminder of the life they left behind, and one they want rid of.
Cygnet is the story of a young woman battling against the thrashing waves of loneliness and depression, and how she learns to find hope, laughter and her own voice in a world that's crumbling around her.
ELLE ONES TO WATCH 2019
'Terribly moving. A clear-sighted, poignant rumination on loneliness, love, the melancholy of age and of youth' China Mieville
'An imaginative, atmospheric and original novel that lingers in the memory long after reading' Bernadine Evaristo
'A sad, funny, highly original novel' Blake Morrison
'Wholeheartedly enjoy(able)' Lauren Wilkinson, The Millions
'Season Butler is an extraordinary writer. Like Colson Whitehead, her work is fearless in its inventiveness' Julia Bell
__________________________________________________________
It's too hot for most of the clothes I packed to come here, when I thought this would only be for a week or two. My mother kissed me with those purple-brown lips of hers and said, we'll be back, hold tight.
The Kid doesn't know where her parents are. They left with a promise to come back months ago, and now their seventeen-year-old daughter is stranded on Swan Island.
Swan isn't just any island; it is home to an eccentric old age separatist community who have shunned life on the mainland for a haven which is rapidly sinking into the ocean. The Kid's arrival threatens to burst the idyllic bubble that the elderly residents have so carefully constructed - an unwelcome reminder of the life they left behind, and one they want rid of.
Cygnet is the story of a young woman battling against the thrashing waves of loneliness and depression, and how she learns to find hope, laughter and her own voice in a world that's crumbling around her.
About the author
Season Butler is a writer, artist and dramaturg born in Washington, DC. Through her work, she explores her interest in identity and otherness, the opportunities and traps of hindsight and hope, and what it means to look forward to an increasingly wily future. An early draft of Cygnet was shortlisted for the SI Leeds Prize for unpublished fiction by Black and Asian Women. She lives and works between London and Berlin.
Rate this audiobook
Tell us what you think.
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
