Swan by Frances Mayes

 Swan: A Novel by Frances Mayes. Broadway Books (Random House),
                    2002. Adult fiction.


Travel writer Frances Mayes branched out from her usual Italian memoirs to write this fictional account of small town life in Swan, Georgia. Grown children, J.J. and Ginger Mason, are shocked when the body of their long dead mother is found lying on the ground beside her grave. Even more shocking is that she did not commit suicide, but was murdered. Everyone has secrets and must move past the traumas and tragedies to seek new futures, new loves, and new adventures. The neighbors, friends, and family will remind readers who grew up in the South of people they know. Slow moving story, sort of like sipping an iced tea in the hot summer and reading on the front porch!