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Shop nowThe Maker of Swans
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Learn moreBookseller recommendation
“O’Donnell’s prose is like poetry or music - every carefully structured sentence, every unexpected adverb was delightful. Wilde and Grady did such a brilliant job narrating, it was like listening to a work of art. A work of art that I perhaps didn’t 'get' …. The story line is speculative for sure. But I loved listening/reading this even though I’m not sure what exactly happened!”
— Kristine • Buttonwood Books and Toys
Bookseller recommendation
“Wildly weird and wonderful is The Maker of Swans by Paraic O’Donnell, narrated by Imogene Wilde and Mike Grady. This novel is a strange brew of magic, mystery and murder. Who is the enigmatic Mr. Crowe, apparently ageless and possessor of mysterious 'gifts' long sought by the great artists of all time? What is his relationship to his equally mysterious young ward, Clara, whose own creative gifts are yet to be understood? Watching over the two of them is the world-weary Eustace, whose service to Mr. Crowe includes protecting him and Clara from the secretive order to which Crowe belongs and to whom he is answerable when he crosses the line of life and death. O’Donnell has created a complex narrative that bubbles and simmers through decades of secrets and lies, revealing information even as it adds more inscrutable details. It’s a puzzling narrative that I could not stop listening to.”
— Sarah • Raven Book Store
In the dead of night, shots ring out over the grounds of a sprawling English estate. The world-weary butler Eustace recognizes the gunman—his longtime employer, Mr. Crowe—and knows he must think and act quickly. Who is the man lying dead on the lawn? Who is the woman in his company? Can he clean up his master's mess like he always has before? Or will this bring a new kind of reckoning?
Mr. Crowe was once famed for his gifts—unaccountable gifts, known only to the members of a secretive order. Protected and privileged, he was courted by countesses and great men of letters. But he has long since retreated from that glittering world, living alone but for Eustace and Clara, his mysterious young ward. He has been content to live quietly, his great library gathering dust and his once magnificent gardens growing wild. He has left the past behind. Until now.
Because there are rules, even for Mr. Crowe and his kind, that cannot be broken. And this single night of passion and violence will have consequences, stirring shadows from the past. He and Eustace will be tested as never before. So too will Clara, whose own extraordinary gifts remain hidden, even from herself. If she is to save them all, she must learn to use them quickly and unlock the secret of who she is. It is a secret beyond imagining. A secret that will change everything.
Paraic O'Donnell's essays and reviews have appeared in the Guardian, the Spectator, the Irish Times, and elsewhere. His first novel, The Maker of Swans, was named an Amazon Rising Stars Debut of the Month and was shortlisted for the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards.
Imogen Wilde is an actress, known for Everything Is Going to Be Fine, Murder Ballads: How to Make It in Rock 'n' Roll, and Rosamunde Pilcher.
Mike Grady's career spans more than forty years, including leading theater roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the English National Theatre. His television roles have included Minder, Citizen Smith, and Last of the Summer Wine. His film credits include The Return of the Pink Panther opposite Peter Sellers, and Carry On Loving.