'Not since Holden Caulfield have I been so captivated by afirst-person voice as the one Season Butler creates in Cygnet' Blake Morrison

The Kid doesn't know where her parents are. They left with a promise tocome back months ago, and now she is stranded on Swan Island.

Swan isn't just any island; it is home to an eccentric old-age separatistcommunity who have shunned life on the mainland for a haven which is rapidlysinking into the ocean. The Kid's arrival threatens to burst the idyllic bubblethat the residents have so carefully constructed - an unwelcome reminder of thelife they left behind, and one they want rid of.


'Terribly moving. A clear-sighted, poignant rumination onloneliness, love, the melancholy of age and of youth' China Mieville


'A vivid, poetic debut' Daily Mail