A Outsider Story: A Guest Post by Essie Chambers
Swift River, our Discover Pick for June, is a novel about being an outsider, and looking to the past to understand our present. Beautifully written, the story is told with the wry voice of 16-year-old Diamond — funny, irrepressible, and the only Black girl in her small New England town. Read on for author Essie Chambers’ exclusive essay on the inspiration for the novel and what coming-of-age means to her.
Hardcover
$25.19
$27.99
Swift River
Swift River
In Stock Online
Hardcover
$25.19
$27.99
A story of family mythology and coming-of-age that you won’t want to put down. We can’t wait to read what Essie Chambers writes next.
A story of family mythology and coming-of-age that you won’t want to put down. We can’t wait to read what Essie Chambers writes next.
I’ve always known that I wanted to tell an outsider story. I grew up as one of very few people of color in a predominately white town, where I stood out in painful ways even though I had good friends and was part of the community (from but not of the place). This felt like a rich experience to draw from—a way to explore universal themes of identity and belonging. It’s also juicy material for a tragic-comic coming-of-age story; a journey from wanting a different life than one you’ve been given, to taking a step towards the person you will become.
Swift River starts at the beginning of a tumultuous summer for the main character, Diamond Newberry, who has just turned sixteen and is living with her troubled mother in a tiny New England mill town, plagued by rumors and isolated by all the ways she stands out. Diamond has been the only Black person in the town since her dad disappeared mysteriously 7 years ago, and she is desperate to escape—the town, her body, her needy mother. I wanted the novel to capture the intimacy and tenderness of those awkward teenage years— making your first best friend, lying to your mom, learning to drive; that hot sticky summer feeling of wanting to be seen and loved and crushed on.
The drama that unfolds happens over the course of this one summer— a wonderfully compressed period of teenager-time when massive life change is possible, even if it’s only internal transformation. It’s a moment in life that adults understand viscerally, full of firsts and heartache, when everything feels out of control— your body, your emotions, your family life. You’re feeling things so intensely that the best and worst day of your life can happen in the same week! I think there’s something powerful about telling a story from the perspective of someone who is still learning an emotional language for these massive feelings. All of my favorite coming-of-age stories mine this tension; as a reader you get to see story layers that a young character doesn’t have access to, because you are remembering your own teen traumas and joys, the wisdom gained from fumbles.
I was fairly wild as a teenager (my poor parents!) and summer always seemed to rouse some new drama out of me. It was the only time for real adventure, a perfect stage for teenage theatrics. And yet the most memorable summer I can recall was defined by a simple choice: my decision to go to college far away from home. It’s what I love about coming-of-age; no singular formative event, but a series of moments that culminate in an internal shift, a choice made that signals a journey from one place to the next.
