I met Kristen Clanton before I heard of her book, The Swallows. It was a lovely late October day. She, my Amber, and two other authors were on a panel, answering some very good questions posed by a moderator. I was intrigued enough to send for her book by inter library loan.
I read it the day after Halloween: the Day of the Dead, which was also the dreaded change from Daylight Savings Time, ushering in the bleakness of a Maine Winter.
Actually I found it to have strong similarities to Amber's Little White Flowers trilogy. Both are for real for real dystopias with evil forces and beings ever ready to swoop in and commit unspeakable evils. Both are crafted so seamlessly there are no slip ups to destroy the spell they cast. But there is one big difference. Whereas Amber's villains do their evils under the guise of religion...
...Kristen's make no such pretense. They are definitely demonic.
Pearl is a teen with supernatural abilities. She, her mother, Diane, and her much younger brother, Benny, lead a nomadic life with frequent moves. They've had the misfortune of landing in Fullmouth, better known to locals as the Swallows.
"Even the kids who didn't know their town history knew hardly anything good came from the Swallows. Every street in the neighborhood was intimidating from beginning to end, but like magicians, the kids knew each pitfall and trapdoor, knew taking the long way around made no difference when it came to escape."
Recently the Swallows has been making national news for a series of suicides of young mothers.
Or were the deaths suicides? The ghosts are hanging around desperate to communicate with the living. Pearl can see and hear them. They may be the victims of killers with truly demonic forces behind them...
...and Pearl has reason to believe that Diane is next on the kill list.
If you're a true horror affecianado run, don't walk to your nearest library or bookstore to hunt down this bona fide chiller. But unless you are truly hard core, don't try to read it once darkness has fallen.
On a purrrsonal note, what I woke up to yesterday morning 🌄 was as far from dystopia as you can get. Susan Collins reign of cronyism about to end. Janet Mills passing the Maine Governorship on to Hannah Pingree. Chellie Pingree about to rep Southern Maine in Congress. On the local level Mike Tipping prevailing over Leo Kenney who I personally loathe from years of serving on school board with him. AND DEMOCRATS REGAINING A MAJORITY IN THE NATIONAL CONGRESS AND SENATE!!! You'd better believe I wore my Troy Jackson shirt proudly. It was an unusually (for November in Maine) warm, sunny day. The weekly Orono vigil was basically a love fest. We vigilers were some energized and joyous. People driving by were signaling solidarity. I couldn't keep track of all the honks--there were so many. When I got home it was warm enough for me to read outside near my flowers until a gorgeous vibrant sunset 🌇 provided a fitting grand finale to the whole glorious day.
A great big shout out goes out to all the voters who made this day possible.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my Galaxy
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