Wild Swans

By: Jessica Spotswood
Location: FIC SPO
Genre: Youth Fiction- complicated families, love and growing up.

“Everybody freaks out at some point. It's how you patch yourself up that counts.” 

Wild Swans tells the story of Ivy, a young girl who isn't really sure of her place in the world or what she wants to do. Her mother left her when she was a child so she was instead raised by her grandfather and housekeeper and she's spent her life trying to live up to the legacy of the Milbourn women.
The Milbourn name is both a blessing and a curse, with each generation bringing about a talented and gifted woman whose life ends in tragedy. Ivy knows the pressure she is under to find her ‘special’ talent, to find what makes her a Milbourn, to leave her mark in this small town, and it doesn’t help that her Grandfather has set the bar so high.
Wild Swans by Jessica Spotswood is a complicated and messy contemporary about a girl named Ivy who comes from a long line of passionate and talented women. It's a story of self discovery and finding out how you fit into the world during those crucial teen years. It tackles heavy hitting subjects like gender, sexuality and feminism but the characters are truly what drives this story. Wild Swans has a lot of heart - Kristin

“Without the armor of my anger, I feel so vulnerable. Here it is: the truth. She left me, and I have never forgiven either of us for it.” 

― Jessica Spotswood, Wild Swans