Swan by Frances Mayes

Swan by Frances Mayes, author of Under the Tuscan Sun, establishes itself quickly as a Southern gothic novel, the only novel Mayes has written to go along with her memoirs and poetry. The tale starts off promising enough with the bizarre exhumation of J.J. and Ginny’s mother Catherine, who was buried 19 years ago after an apparent suicide. Nothing like this has ever happened in Swan, Georgia, before causing the local sheriff to call in for help from the Georgia State Police.

Since J.J. and Ginny were children at the time of their mother’s death, they were deeply scarred by the event. J.J. retreated to the family cabin after graduating from college, and Ginny headed to Italy to do some hands-on work toward her advanced college degree. Both are called “home,” upon the discovery of their mother’s remains outside of her grave.

Some enlightening news from the sheriff along with some information pieced together from Catherine’s journals and a piece of film provide the siblings with a revised version of what happened one afternoon that ended Catherine’s life.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the book until the ending, the unresolved plot elements leave something to be desired. The book feels unfinished.

Born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, Frances Mayes has homes in both Italy and North Carolina.