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by Stacey Swann
A bighearted debut with technicolor characters, plenty of Texas swagger, and a powder keg of a plot in which marriages struggle, rivalries flare, and secrets explode, all with a clever wink toward classical mythology ("Wildly entertaining" - Richard Russo).
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?
"[L]uminous...this epic makes the most of its vivid Texan setting, becoming as well a love letter to the state's rugged beauty and homegrown familiarity...This teems with skillfully evoked drama and tragedy." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A powerful family in a small Texas town is wracked by miseries of its own making...Swann's debut is rich in Texas flavor and full of nods to classical mythology...A total page-turner." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Olympus, Texas portrays the messy realities of modern relationships and blended families...Swann immerses readers in small-town life while generously endowing each character with depth and agency...Rich and compelling." - Booklist (starred review)
"Fans of mythology will enjoy spotting the tragic parallels between Swann's characters and the Greek and Roman gods...Swann's prose is deeply descriptive and her characters heartfelt, but it all boils down to whether anyone in this family can get past their selfish feelings, unrestrained passions and bottled-up anger long enough to forgive each other." - BookPage
"Here is a lightning field of a novel: enthralling, vast, dark, bright, beautiful and dangerous. I was hypnotized by it. Stacey Swann is an unforgettable force, and Olympus, Texas will carry you and embrace you with all its heart, strength, and hope." - Paul Yoon, author of Run Me to Earth
"Olympus, Texas is the most wildly entertaining novel I've read in a long time, and Stacey Swann is a writer to watch." - Richard Russo, author of Chances Are...
"Olympus, Texas is sheer delight: hilarious, heartbreaking, true. I loved this novel." - Amanda Eyre Ward, author of The Jetsetters
This information about Olympus, Texas was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stacey Swann holds an M.F.A. from Texas State University and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her fiction has appeared in Epoch, Memorious, Versal, and other journals, and she is a contributing editor of American Short Fiction. She is a native Texan.
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