Erika Swyler – författare

From Erika Swyler, author of The Book of Speculation—one of BuzzFeed’s Best Fiction Books of the year-- a short story of a mermaid who ran away from the circus, and what happened when she started a life on land.Before she was a suburban wife and mother, Paulina Watson was the Mermaid Girl of Carnival Lareille. She traveled everywhere with two boxes: the first with red sequins for the dress she wore as a magician’s assistant, the second with green sequins for her mermaid tail. She''d grown up on wild stories told by wild circus people. Books, she hadn’t had books until she’d found Daniel Watson and stopped moving.The first time Daniel saw her, Paulina was floating in a glass tank, suspended in water that sparkled like it was made from night sky. She has settled down now, living in a house on a cliff on Long Island Sound with Daniel and their young family: six-year-old Simon and his baby sister, Enola. But if you steal the magician’s assistant from a carnival, how can you know if she’ll disappear?

"Dazzling...[a] quirky, raucous, and bewitching family saga." --Sara Gruen, author of Water for ElephantsSimon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.One June day, an old book arrives on Simon''s doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon''s family have drowned--always on July 24, which is only weeks away.As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon''s family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he get to the heart of the mystery in time to save Enola? In the tradition of Sara Gruen''s Water for Elephants, Erin Morgenstern''s The Night Circus, and Elizabeth Kostova''s The Historian, The Book of Speculation is Erika Swyler''s moving debut novel about the power of books, family, and magic.

A haunting debut novel of magic, family secrets, and the power of books, perfect for fans of The Night Circus and The Historian.Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a crumbling house on Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead, and his mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.One June day, an old book arrives on Simon''s doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller. The fragile, water-damaged volume is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, chronicling strange and magical events, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon''s family have drowned—always on July 24, which is only weeks away.As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon''s family? What does it have to do with the mysterious book, and can he unravel the mystery in time to save Enola? The Book of Speculation is Erika Swyler''s moving debut novel, an intricately crafted tale of family secrets, magic, and the enduring power of books.

A Long Island Reads 2020 Selection * A Real Simple Best Book of 2019 From the bestselling author of The Book of Speculation, a “tender and ambitious” (Vulture) novel about time, loss, and the wonders of the universe.Eleven-year-old Nedda Papas is obsessed with becoming an astronaut. In 1986 in Easter, a small Florida Space Coast town, her dreams seem almost within reach--if she can just grow up fast enough. Theo, the scientist father she idolizes, is consumed by his own obsessions. Laid off from his job at NASA and still reeling from the loss of Nedda's newborn brother several years before, Theo turns to the dangerous dream of extending his daughter's childhood just a little longer. The result is an invention that alters the fabric of time.Decades later, Nedda has achieved her long-held dream and is traveling aboard the space ship Chawla, part of a small group hoping to colonize a distant planet. But as she floats in zero gravity, far from earth, she and her crewmates face a serious crisis. Nedda may hold the key to the solution, if she can come to terms with her past and the future that awaits her. For fans of The Age of Miracles and The Immortalists, Erika Swyler’s Light from Other Stars is a masterful and ambitious novel about fathers and daughters, women and the forces that hold them back, and the true meaning of progress.