The Glass Forest

Starred review from November 20, 2017
Swanson follows her bestselling debut, The Bookseller, with a stunning suspense novel set in 1960. According to 17-year-old Ruby Glass, her father, Henry, poisoned himself after her mother, Silja, walked out on them. Henry’s brother, Paul, and Paul’s new bride, Angie, travel to Stonekill, N.Y., with their infant son in order to settle Henry’s affairs and support their niece. Angie, who’s 21, can’t fathom how any woman could abandon her family and is determined to befriend and comfort Ruby, but Ruby keeps Angie at arm’s length and seems unexpectedly composed. When the police reveal that Henry may have been murdered, and the locals start telling sordid stories about him and his relatives, Angie does some digging and realizes how little she knows about the Glasses—including Paul. Swanson uses exquisitely rendered characters and an intricately woven plot to explore the cultural and political fallout of WWII, as well as the changing role and limited rights of women in the mid–20th century. This intoxicating slow burn builds to a conclusion rife with shocking reveals. Agent: Susanna Einstein, Einstein Literary Management.

Caitlin Davies, as Angie Glass, leads off the narration of this mystery, told from the perspective of three related women. Angie, who is enamored of her charming, older husband, insists on joining him to comfort his niece Ruby after the news arrives that his brother has killed himself and Ruby's mother is missing. Through flashbacks, Davies and her fellow narrators--Jayme Mattler as Ruby and Cassandra Campbell as Ruby's mother--reveal these women's relationships with the Glass brothers and exactly what has led to this moment. Campbell and Mattler offer strong supporting performances, but Davies's ungainly cadence is entirely out of step with the text. Consequently, her delivery of the plot's revelations--predilections indulged and dangerous choices made--falls flat. K.W. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine