In 2021, Stacey Swann‘s “bighearted debut”, Olympus, Texas will arrive on shelves in North America and in the UK. I spotted it in a catalogue, and I’m very intrigued by it — it has “technicolor characters, plenty of Texas swagger, and a powder keg of a plot”, and has been described as “Wildly entertaining” by Richard Russo, who happens to be one of my favourite authors. So, yeah. Very much looking forward to giving this a try. here’s the synopsis:
The Briscoe family is once again the talk of their small town when March returns to East Texas two years after he was caught having an affair with his brother’s wife. His mother, June, hardly welcomes him back with open arms. Her husband’s own past affairs have made her tired of being the long-suffering spouse. Is it, perhaps, time for a change? Within days of March’s arrival, someone is dead, marriages are upended, and even the strongest of alliances are shattered. In the end, the ties that hold them together might be exactly what drag them all down.
An expansive tour de force, Olympus, Texas cleverly weaves elements of classical mythology into a thoroughly modern family saga, rich in drama and psychological complexity. After all, at some point, don’t we all wonder: What good is this destructive force we call love?
Stacey Swann’s Olympus, Texas is due to be published by Random House in North America and Weidenfeld & Nicolson in the UK, on May 4th, 2021.
Civilian Reader 