Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
The Wild Swans
Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Peg Kerr
Class/Genre: Fantasy
Warner, May 1999, $13.99, 400 pp.
After sending her off to live with foster parents almost eight years ago, the Earl of Exeter finally disowns his daughter Eliza. In 1689 England, a female teenager has almost no chance of survival without male protection. The intrepid Eliza seeks that by looking for her eleven brothers. However, Eliza is soon shocked to learn that her stepmother has changed her siblings into swans, who fly her to the New World to keep her safe. Eliza learns from a fairy how to save her siblings from the curse.
In 1981 New York, the family of Elias Latham disowns him due to his sexual preference. Only the intervention of Sean Donnelly saves the lad from a nightmarish life on the streets. Soon Sean and Elias become lovers. However, their happiness is disturbed when Sean becomes ill with AIDs, a strange disease that seems to be destroying homosexuals.
THE WILD SWANS is a blending of a historical story with a contemporary plot. Both stories are well-written entertaining, and the characters seem genuine. However, though there are many inferences between the tales, Peg Kerr fails to unite the two story lines into one major plot. Each tale could have been a stand alone novel relished by readers, but intertwining them leaves the total much less than either segment.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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