Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for The Swallows by Lisa Lutz - Available

The Swallows

A Novel

by Lisa Lutz
Abby Elliott
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
2 of 2 copies available
A teacher at a New England prep school ignites a gender war—with deadly consequences—in this dark and provocative novel by the bestselling author of The Passenger
“Suspenseful and utterly riveting!”—Tess Gerritsen
When Alexandra Witt joins the faculty at Stonebridge Academy, she’s hoping to put a painful past behind her. Then one of her creative writing assignments generates some disturbing responses from students. Before long, Alex is immersed in an investigation of the students atop the school’s social hierarchy—and their connection to something called the Darkroom. She soon inspires the girls who’ve started to question the school’s “boys will be boys” attitude and incites a resistance. But just as the movement is gaining momentum, Alex attracts the attention of an unknown enemy who knows a little too much about her—and what brought her to Stonebridge in the first place.
Meanwhile, Gemma, a defiant senior, has been plotting her attack for years, waiting for the right moment. Shy loner Norman hates his role in the Darkroom, but can’t find the courage to fight back until he makes an unlikely alliance. And then there’s Finn Ford, an English teacher with a shady reputation, who keeps one eye on his literary ambitions and one on Ms. Witt. As the school’s secrets begin to trickle out, a boys-versus-girls skirmish turns into an all-out war, with deeply personal—and potentially fatal—consequences for everyone involved.
Lisa Lutz’s blistering, timely tale of revenge and disruption shows us what can happen when silence wins out over decency for too long—and why the scariest threat of all might be the idea that sooner or later, girls will be girls.
Cast of Narrators:
Abby Elliot as Gemma Russo
Lisa Flanagan as Ms. Witt
Ari Fliakos as Mr. Ford
Michael Crouch as Norman Crowley
and with Johnny Heller reading The Announcements
Advance praise for The Swallows
“Wes Anderson meets Muriel Spark in this delicious and vicious battle of the sexes set within a private school. Wickedly fun and wildly subversive but packing an emotional punch, The Swallows is as powerful as it is timely.”—Nationally bestselling author Megan Abbott
“Sharpen your axes, ladies, and get ready for this fierce, fun, unsparing novel of female rage, power, and friendship.”—Camille Perri, author of The Assistants and When Katie Met Cassidy

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    August 13, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593147733
      • File size: 316974 KB
      • Duration: 11:00:21

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 17, 2019
      This sardonic standalone by the author of the Spellman Files mystery series takes no prisoners in its attack on the misogynist culture of a New England prep school in 2009. When 20-something Alex Witt, dismissed from her former teaching job under mysterious circumstances, starts teaching creative writing at Stonebridge, she senses a simmering conflict among her upperclassmen students. Most of the more popular young men, under the leadership of nefarious Adam, have formed a semisecret society devoted to rating the young women on their sexual abilities, and, not incidentally, humiliating them. The young women, led by volatile Gemma and joined by a couple of the more enlightened guys, decide to take them down by any means necessary. As the situation escalates, careers and lives are threatened. Lutz is harder on the faculty members, whose comfortable lives depend on looking the other way, than on the more weak-willed of the male students, who scrabble to protect themselves. Although she features such a large cast of characters, she builds her plot cannily and walks a neat line between satire and realism. Lutz’s withering portrayal of how the #MeToo movement plays out in this rarefied setting should shock some and delight others.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This contemporary novel, performed by an ensemble cast, focuses on the #MeToo movement and sexual bullying in a Vermont boarding school. The story is told from the perspectives of four characters: teachers Alex Witt (portrayed by Lisa Flanagan) and Finn Ford (Ari Fliakos) and students Gemma (Abby Elliot) and Norman (Michael Crouch). When new teacher Alex discovers that the boys are cajoling girls into (usually) unwanted sexual encounters, she also learns that the faculty--for a variety of reasons--are turning a blind eye. Alex, however, opts to help the girls stop the harassment. The narrators' performances highlight the emotional reactions of the students and faculty, maintain a sense of foreboding, and create distinctive characterizations. Narrator Johnny Heller also plays a small but memorable role. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check Out What's Being Checked Out Right Now