Olympus, Texas

Starred review from February 1, 2021
A powerful family in a small Texas town is wracked by miseries of its own making. The Briscoes are a train wreck no one in Olympus can look away from. Patriarch Peter Briscoe, a real estate baron, has been chronically unfaithful, resulting in at least three illegitimate children by at least two women other than his wife, June--those are the ones he knows about, anyway. Two of these kids, twins Arlo and Artie, were raised by their mother, Lee, in a house across town from the Briscoe acreage yet were supported by Peter and treated as siblings of his three children with June: Thea, Hap, and March. Once all these kids grew up, a couple of them intentionally put many miles between themselves and Olympus, but the remaining group more than managed to keep the scandals, betrayals, fistfights, and other fireworks going strong. March had an affair with his brother's wife that blew up so badly he's been out of town and estranged from most of the family for two years. As the book opens, his return to Olympus generates drama that is quickly sidelined when rock star Arlo and hunting guide Artie are involved in a gun accident that leaves a corpse floating in the river. Meanwhile, June's been in a bad mood for decades--that is, until the balding vet who comes over to help her castrate calves puts a smile on her face. Swann's debut is rich in Texas flavor and full of nods to classical mythology--quotes from Ovid, twins human and canine, and the kind of relentless bad luck that usually means you've offended a deity. A total page-turner.

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March 15, 2021
The Briscoes were well known in the small town of Olympus, Texas, but not always for the best reasons. Peter, the patriarch, was a successful businessman but had a notorious roving eye. June, his wife, had long exhausted her well of forgiveness for Peter's misdeeds. Their three grown children had gotten used to the realities of their father's indiscretions, even growing close to two of their half-siblings. When March, one of June and Peter's sons, returns to Olympus for the first time since his affair with his brother's wife has been discovered, the Briscoes find out just how far the limits of family loyalty can be tested. Far from feeling soap opera-ish or voyeuristic, Olympus, Texas portrays the messy realities of modern relationships and blended families. Taking place over the course of a week, Swann's debut explores the breakdown of two marriages, the aftermath of a tragic accident, and the fragility of rebuilt relationships. Swann immerses readers in small-town life while generously endowing each character with depth and agency. Similar in tenor and tone to Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist (2010) and Cristina Alger's The Darlings (2012), Swann's rich and compelling novel will delight anyone anxiously awaiting the next season of HBO's Succession.

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Starred review from March 29, 2021
Swann’s luminous debut follows a troubled family in small-town Olympus, Tex., as they become increasingly consumed by secrets, scandals, and betrayals. As the book opens, March Briscoe returns two and a half years after his affair with his sister-in-law, Vera, was discovered. March’s reappearance sets in motion a chain of disasters. His brother, Hap, is still mad about the infidelity, and his mother, June, doesn’t know how to handle it. Meanwhile, March and Hap’s chronic philanderer father, Peter, a real estate tycoon, deals with June’s discontent with his past infidelity, and March’s half-siblings fathered by Peter—twins Arlo and Artie—are divided by Arlo’s jealousy over Artie’s new boyfriend. Rife with allusions to mythology (March’s dogs are named Remus and Romulus, portending the explosive and deadly flashpoint in Arlo and Artie’s conflict), this epic makes the most of its vivid Texan setting, becoming as well a love letter to the state’s rugged beauty and homegrown familiarity (“The sun is glinting off the water’s murky surface like spilled glitter as he crosses the bridge and hits the city limits of the only place that’s ever felt like home”). This teems with skillfully evoked drama and tragedy. Agent: Nicole Aragi, Aragi Inc.