Review: Swallow's Dance


WendyOrr is a master of fantastical mythical historical middle grade fiction. You’ll forgive that mouthful of adjectives once you immerse yourself into the genesis of Orr’s second Minoan fantasy novel, Swallow’s Dance. There’s a third too! Cuckoo’s Flight released last year.

My first journey into the Aegean Bronze Age with Orr and Aissa, Orr’s character from the first book, was through, Dragonfly Song. I was inspired by Orr’s poetic artistry and sublime use of language: part prose and part verse novel, I was utterly swept away by the beauty and tragedy of Aissa’s plight. The use of verse to relay Aissa’s internal dialogue and inner most dread and desires is genius and executed with such finesse I wished it never ended.

Dragonfly Song is an adventure story, a tale of daring and hope and a quest for love and acceptance that will have you weeping and cheering. Gripping, artful, and exciting, this novel has broad appeal for both male and female readers aged twelve and above.


Swallow’s Dance, strikes similar chords except this time we are caught up in the struggles of Leira and her quest to survive a traumatic and devastating volcanic eruption on the Aegean Island of Santorini. Known as the Pompeii of Greece, Leira’s fictional township is based on the ruins of Akrotiri and built around Orr’s passionate interest for this age. Despite my sun-baked memories of basking in the burnished light of modern-day Santorini, it was easy to imagine this caldera in Leira’s time as I was swept away by the enormity of her situation.

Separated from her seafaring father and older brother and left to nurse her brain damaged mother with only the aid of her aging nursemaid following one of the worse natural events in their history, Leira’s belief in herself and the religious hierarchy of her ancient society is rocked several times over.

She is born of the Swallow Clan, respected affluent members of the Minoan age with deep and enigmatic ties to the Great Mother and her goddesses whom they believe survey and govern all things spiritual and physical. These beliefs are brutally tested as Leira and her dejected party of three lurch from one disappointment to another. 

Trauma wallows everywhere in the wake of the quake and the ensuing devastating tsunamis. Desolation and despair cling to the stench of the dying and the rotting dead yet through the mire, Leira learns that resilience is earned and learned not bought. She abandons her former stately ways and station in order to survive, assuming the lowliest of jobs within the ‘purple works’ tannery to earn enough to feed her family. Day-to-day survival is merciless and savage, but Leira’s self-edification and eventual enlightenment prove the rite of passage from girl to young woman that she had been waiting for for so long.

Swallow’s Dance is equal parts moving and momentous providing a marvellous mythological adventure that proclaims one very simple message: to never ever give up.

Title: Swallow’s Dance
Author: Wendy Orr
Publisher: Allen & Unwin, $16.99
Publication Date: June 2018
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760297879
For ages: 9 – 13
Type: Middle Grade Fiction



Buy the Book: Boomerang Books, Allen & Unwin, Booktopia

 

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