Penguin Random House Excerpt Sampler Spring 2016
by various authors
So, I’ve been digging through the Penguin Random House Spring 2016 Excerpt Sampler, which is basically just a giant book of first chapters to get you hooked. It doesn't finish any of the stories, which is very annoying! But one of the previews was so good I had to go buy the actual full book to see how it ended. It’s called "Anna and the Swallow Man" by Gavriel Savit. It’s pretty short; about 240 pages, published by Alfred A. Knopf. If you like historical stories like "The Book Thief" but want something that feels like an old, dark fairytale, you seriously need to read it.
The story takes place in Poland during World War II. A little seven year old girl named Anna Łania is left all alone because the Nazi Gestapo arrested her dad, who was a university professor. While wandering the streets, she meets this bizarre, super-tall guy she calls The Swallow Man. He is kind of like a magician—he can trick birds into landing on his hand, and he speaks a ton of languages. He won't tell her his real name because he says names are too dangerous in a war zone. Anna just starts following him, and they spend the next four years hiding out and living in the woods to stay alive.
To keep Anna from getting traumatized, the Swallow Man dumbs down the war and makes up a secret language using animal names. He tells her the Nazi soldiers are "Bears," and the Soviet soldiers are "Wolves," and they just have to avoid them both. Along the way, they meet a Jewish guy named Reb Hirschl, who plays the clarinet and travels with them for a bit. He brings some normal happiness and music back into Anna’s life before the scary reality of the war forces him away.
What blew me away was how the characters swap roles as time goes on. The Swallow Man gets super sick, and his brilliant mind starts to break down from all the stress and winter cold. Little Anna has to grow up fast and become the one protecting him. Without spoiling the actual ending, it is a total tear-jerker. The Swallow Man makes a huge sacrifice to get Anna onto a boat so she can escape to a safe country. The book has an open-ended finish where you don't know exactly what happens to the Swallow Man, but you get total closure knowing Anna is safe and survives. It is a beautiful, sad coming of age story.
The sampler also includes six other sneak peeks if you want to check them out:
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry sits at 3.91 out of 5 stars on Goodreads and is a medieval historical tale about a girl running from a heretic hunter.
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye has a 3.88 rating and reads like a dark reimagining of Jane Eyre, where the governess is a vigilante serial killer.
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson has a 3.79 rating and is perfect for fans of slow, gorgeous Edwardian village drama right before WWI.
The Travelers by Chris Pavone sits at a 3.63 rating and offers a fast-paced, modern spy thriller setup.
Behave by Andromeda Romano-Lax has a 3.54 rating and dives into a true-history drama about the early days of controversial psychology experiments.
Finally, Smoke by Dan Vyleta has a 3.27 rating and delivers a unique fantasy where people's wicked thoughts physically leak out of their bodies as soot.
Overall, checking out the sampler was a great way to discover "Anna and the Swallow Man," which I highly recommend putting on your reading list!
Thank you, NetGalley, Penguin Random House Library Resources, and the various authors for the book review consideration. All opinions are my own.
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