Swift River Audiobook

A tender and irreverently funny debut novel about the complicated bond between mothers and daughters, the disappearance of a father, and the long-hidden history of a declining New England mill town.

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight and the fact that, since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she has never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, spanning the twentieth century and revealing a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion.

As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?

A story of first friendships, family secrets, and finding the courage to let go, Swift River is a sensational debut about how history shapes us that heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.

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“Narrator Shayna Small infuses teen angst throughout Chambers’s novel… Small skillfully uses nuanced voicings for the many conversations Diamond has with other characters…Letters from her Auntie-Cousin Lena [are] delivered with Southern grace by Janina Edwards, and from Aunt Clara, performed with warmth by Robin Miles.”

— AudioFile