"Oblivia Ethelyne is hiding from her abusers in the depths of a gum tree when she is rescued by an old woman who herself is a refugee from the devastation of the climate change wars. Her savior, Bella Donna of the Champions, takes Oblivia to live with her on an old warship in a polluted dry swamp, fenced off from the rest of Australia by the Army. The dry swamp becomes the setting for a revolutionary invasion that brings with it the promise of salvation, but for Oblivia it seems likely to be yet another trap from which she must escape. This multilayered novel tinkers with the edges of the world we inhabit as Oblivia encounters talking monkeys, genies with doctorates, spirit-guiding swans, and an entire cast of characters drawn from myths, legends, and fairy tales. Dazzling in its language and scope, The Swan Book reminds us that the power of the human imagination can set us free." --