Swan
by Africa Fine
_______________________________________________________
Swan is the story of Delia “Duck” Dukes, a girl who escapes her small Texas
town in the 1940’s and 1950’s, seeking to shed her reputation for being the
ugly duckling in her family and escape an abusive stepfather.
It is also the story of her older sister, Merline, who finds forbidden love with a
white man, and their mother Violet, who shuts off her emotions after a lifetime
of pain.
Although she moves to Chicago and pursues her goal of being a singer, Duck
cannot seem to cut the ties to her inattentive mother and pretty, mean-
spirited sister Merline. The novel follows Duck and Merline’s lives as they take
very different paths into adulthood. Merline works as a maid and raises a
biracial daughter who eventually begins passing as white, and Duck finds
succeeds as a singer but struggles to find love.
When their mother dies, Duck and Merline reunite for the first time in nearly
thirty years, trying to find common ground between sisters whose lives have
been so different.
by Africa Fine
_______________________________________________________
Swan is the story of Delia “Duck” Dukes, a girl who escapes her small Texas
town in the 1940’s and 1950’s, seeking to shed her reputation for being the
ugly duckling in her family and escape an abusive stepfather.
It is also the story of her older sister, Merline, who finds forbidden love with a
white man, and their mother Violet, who shuts off her emotions after a lifetime
of pain.
Although she moves to Chicago and pursues her goal of being a singer, Duck
cannot seem to cut the ties to her inattentive mother and pretty, mean-
spirited sister Merline. The novel follows Duck and Merline’s lives as they take
very different paths into adulthood. Merline works as a maid and raises a
biracial daughter who eventually begins passing as white, and Duck finds
succeeds as a singer but struggles to find love.
When their mother dies, Duck and Merline reunite for the first time in nearly
thirty years, trying to find common ground between sisters whose lives have
been so different.
| All rights reserved. |
africa fine
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| swan |
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| Looking for Lily 2008 |
| Save Me 2009 |
| Fall 2010 |
| Swan 2010 |
