A Wild Winter Swan: A Novel

Written by Gregory Maguire

Narrated by John McDonough

After brilliantly reimagining the worlds of Oz, Wonderland, Dickensian London, and the Nutcracker, the New York Times bestselling author of Wicked turns his unconventional genius to Hans Christian Andersen's ""The Wild Swans,"" transforming this classic tale into an Italian-American girl's poignant coming-of-age story, set amid the magic of Christmas in 1960s New York.

Following her brother's death and her mother's emotional breakdown, Laura now lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, in a lonely townhouse she shares with her old-world, strict, often querulous grandparents. But the arrangement may be temporary. The quiet, awkward teenager has been getting into trouble at home and has been expelled from her high school for throwing a record album at a popular girl who bullied her. When Christmas is over and the new year begins, Laura may find herself at boarding school in Montreal. 

Nearly unmoored from reality through her panic and submerged grief, Laura is startled when a handsome swan boy with only one wing lands on her roof. Hiding him from her ever-bickering grandparents, Laura tries to build the swan boy a wing so he can fly home. But the task is too difficult to accomplish herself. Little does Laura know that her struggle to find help for her new friend parallels that of her grandparents, who are desperate for a distant relative’s financial aid to save the family store. 

As he explores themes of class, isolation, family, and the dangerous yearning to be saved by a power greater than ourselves, Gregory Maguire conjures a haunting, beautiful tale of magical realism that illuminates one young woman’s heartbreak and hope as she begins the inevitable journey to adulthood.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9780062980816

Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire is the New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked—the beloved classic that is the basis for the blockbuster Tony Award–winning Broadway musical of the same name and the major motion picture—Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz. His series Another Day continues the story of Oz with The Brides of Maracoor, The Oracle of Maracoor, and The Witch of Maracoor, and his other novels include A Wild Winter Swan, Hiddensee, After Alice, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, and Mirror Mirror. He lives in New England and France.

Reviews for A Wild Winter Swan

[tornadox-962417 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Riff on The Wild Swans. A lonely girl in mid-century New York grapples with loss, anger, and puberty while living wither her Italian grandparents. After she is expelled from school, strange things start happening around the house, including finding a baby owl* in a wall. Later on, she hears something land on her roof...

*Yes, I read this book when the owl was found in the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Synchronicity.

[amanda4242_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is supposedly a reimagining of Andersen's "The Wild Swans," but I see little resemblance outside of the unexplained appearance of a boy with a swan's wing. The characters are drab, the setting is generic, and the story is underdeveloped.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Reason Read: #doublebookspin, ROOTThis is another fairy tale retelling by Gregory Maguire. The story of an Italian American girl's coming of age in New York in the sixties, set during Christmas time. I don't think this book held up to the level of Wicked and therefore I would only consider it to be average at best. I did like the reference to the Seven Fishes for Christmas dinner.

[hippielunatic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Perhaps I put too much of myself into the main character - as a writer who wants little more than to write a fascinating story but feels she has nothing valid to say. I appreciated the new perspective of a fairy tale - what about the person completely outside of the magic - how would they react to the mystery of the story?The ending felt rushed, but I think I likely was more invested in the potential for growth in Laura that the story was actually intended to be about, which seemed to me to be the necessity to stop living in limbo.

[lpmejia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'll confess, at the start: I'm a huge Gregory Maguire fan, having loved his work since Wicked. His singular talent, I believe, is approaching fairy tales from an entirely new perspective, one colored by modern sensibilities, to be sure, but that kind of loving retelling is an essential part of the lives of all fairy tales. This take on Anderson's "The Wild Swans," set at Christmastime in 1960's New York, is another Maguire success. His descriptions of the Laura, the main character, her immigrant Italian grandparents, and the world they inhabit is spot-on; details like the brand of bubble bath she uses bring the reader fully into the story. If I had one complaint, it would be that we learn next to nothing about the swan boy; I'd have liked to have more scenes where he and Laura learn more about one another's world (although their parting scene is just exquisitely beautiful). For fans of fairy tales and fairy tale retellings alike, A Wild Winter Swan is a delight.

[juju2cat · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A different imagining of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Wild Swans". Set in the midst of New York inside an Italian family home. It's a bit dry and was hard to get into but I could enjoy most of this nonetheless.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

*I received a copy of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.*To be fair, magical realism generally isn't a literary feature I enjoy and this book is not an exception to that rule. This book makes for a depressing, moody tale with Laura spending much of her time angry at the world for no particular reason, or rather, angry with the way her life was unfolding without articulating what she did want and what would make her happy. She spends much of her time isolated in her own room and then a boy with a wing instead of an arm comes into her life, causing trouble to ensue. I'm certain many would enjoy this book, but I just couldn't connect with the characters and struggled to reach the end of a relatively short novel.

[tloeffler_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Laura Ciardi lives in New York with her grandparents. Her father and brother have died; her mother has had a breakdown, she has no friends, and as the story starts, she has just been expelled from school. The story takes place close to Christmas, and her grandparents are expecting company for Christmas Eve dinner, company that must be impressed. Several days prior, Laura opens her window to find a boy with only one arm, the other being a wing. She is reminded of the Hans Christian Anderson's story, "The Wild Swans." Laura has to keep him hidden until she can decide how to help him get away. Of course, disaster ensues, but it's such sweet disaster.I think what I like most about (most) of Gregory Maguire's books is that they stretch the imagination a little bit, but he makes it seem like it's perfectly normal. This was a good one!

[klarsenmd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this as part of the LT Early Reviewer program. Let me start by saying I adore Gregory Maguire so it's hard for me to find much fault in any of his books. With that being said, I really did enjoy this book quite a bit. As with everything he writes, the character development is wonderful and the slight twists and turns of the seemingly ordinary, become a magical thing to read. I particularly enjoyed the setting and time of this offering-- set in the not too distant past of New York City. For some reason this made the bits of magic that much more touching. I highly recommend to fans and new readers alike.

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How wonderful that the inspiration to write the novel came from a thought expressed in 1995, by PL Travers, in conversation with the author. The "what if's" of myths and fairy tales suddenly have new dimension. I also enjoyed the visit to 1960's NYC, especially since I'm trapped here at home by a pandemic.ARC from Library Thing's Early Reviewer Program. My thanks to LibraryThing and the publishers.

[5eva5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

H.C. Andersen's The Wild Swans is re-imagined as a young girl's awakening- and coming-of-age-story in an Italian-American family in 1960's New York. In this story, a slightly more dreamlike telling than his normal fare, Maguire still manages to comment on political and societal issues like he normally does, this one more about class and class-perception rather than outright politics, but not less poignant than his other books. I've enjoyed Maguire's "versions" of common stories in the past and this one, being based on one of my childhood favorites, is especially appealing to me. I loved that the characters are all a little "chipped" and have their own issues while still fitting neatly into the overall story arc. Wonderfully told and recommended to all who like their stories with a hint of magic.