CULTURE EDITION
ESSIE CHAMBERS SWIFT RIVER
It is 1987 in Swift River, New England, a once- thriving mill town that’s now on the decline, and 16-year-old Diamond receives a package from her previously unknown aunt Lena – which will turn her world upside down. When Diamond was eight, her father disappeared overnight, leaving his wife to care for their daughter alone. Diamond was left as the only Black person in the entire town, forcing the mother-and-daughter duo to grow up together, tackling the twin challenges of racist prejudice and extreme poverty. We drift between past vignettes and the present day, where Diamond, utterly fed up with hitchhiking, is trying to learn to drive for herself, while her mother wrestles with the inexplicably complex legal system to have her husband finally declared dead so she can claim on an insurance policy and release much-needed funds. Trapped without a means of transport or the money to enable them to escape, Diamond looks for solace in Lena’s letters, which begin to explain the layers of history causing issues for the family in the present day. Lena also shares a further set of letters from aunt Clara in 1915, who writes about life when racial prejudice was not so hidden from view: Swift River reveals itself as a ‘sundown town’, where Black people were forced to hide or leave when night fell. Can Diamond’s new knowledge of the past and the generational trauma inflicted upon her family enable her to break free and drive towards her sparkling future? A richly textured coming-of-age saga packed with darkly funny writing, stunningly visual prose and complicated family dynamics: this is not an easy summer read, but is hugely rewarding and well worth your time.
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CAMBSEDITION.CO.UK AUGUST 2024 19
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