Anna and the Swallow Man, Gavriel Savit
Anna and the Swallow Man, Gavriel Savit
1 Rating(s)
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Anna and the Swallow Man

Author: Gavriel Savit

Narrator: Allan Corduner

Unabridged: 6 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/26/2016


Synopsis

Winner of the 2017 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
A New York Times Bestseller
A Booklist Editors’ Choice Audio
An AudioFile Best Audiobook of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
Winner of the Indies Choice Book Award                             
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award

"Exquisite." —The Wall Street Journal

"This is masterly storytelling." —The New York Times Book Review

A stunning, beautiful, and ambitious debut novel set in Poland during the Second World War perfect for readers of All the Light We Cannot See and The Book Thief.
 
Kraków, 1939. A million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. This is no place to grow up. Anna Łania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father, a linguistics professor, during their purge of intellectuals in Poland. She’s alone.

And then Anna meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall, a skilled deceiver with more than a little magic up his sleeve. And when the soldiers in the streets look at him, they see what he wants them to see.

The Swallow Man is not Anna’s father—she knows that very well—but she also knows that, like her father, he’s in danger of being taken, and like her father, he has a gift for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, even Bird. When he summons a bright, beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying, Anna is entranced. She follows him into the wilderness.

Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgment, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous. Even the Swallow Man. 
 
Destined to become a classic, Gavriel Savit’s stunning debut reveals life’s hardest lessons while celebrating its miraculous possibilities.

About The Author

Gavriel Savit holds a BFA in musical theater from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he grew up. As an actor and singer, Gavriel has performed on three continents, from New York to Brussels to Tokyo. He lives in Brooklyn. This is his first novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Maja (The Nocturnal Library) on January 26, 2016

Gavriel Savit’s literary debut is one of those rare, gorgeous little gems that leave you completely in awe of the author’s talent. Savit is incredibly skillful with words, a true artist fully aware of the importance of every single sentence. Each one is a small work of art, poetic and beautiful......more

Goodreads review by Stacey | prettybooks on March 06, 2016

Anna and the Swallow Man is stunning. It's the first thing you'll notice about the book – the captivating cover accompanied by instantly beautiful writing. It is among the few literary young adult novels I've read and it won't be the last. Anna and the Swallow Man retells a story we've heard a millio......more

Goodreads review by emma on July 06, 2022

i had a full review of this written on my blog from 6 years ago that i simply never posted, and i was going to just copy and paste that and throw a small parade or block party to celebrate my innovations in the field of laziness, but then... the first two sentences of it..."i genuinely love historica......more

Goodreads review by Snotchocheez on June 18, 2016

3.5 Stars I'm not sure what to make of this thing. I'm mostly pretty impressed, but my emotions run the gamut from WOW! to WHAT THE?!? Ultimately it left me bewildered, but it's the kind of bafflement that keeps replaying in my head, begging me to figure out what I just read. I guess I need to ask a......more


Quotes

"Chilling yet tender." —People Magazine

"Savit’s economical prose beautifully captures a child’s loss of innocence and the spiritual challenges that emerge when a safe world suddenly becomes threatening." —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"The third-person narrative—lyrical, fluid, with a pervasive shadow of menace—lends a folkloric feel to a graceful story steeped in history, magic, myth, and archetype; comparisons to The Book Thief are apt." —The Horn Book, Starred Review

"Savit’s novel, with its wise, philosophical narrator, has the classic feel and elegant, precise language of a book that’s been around forever." —Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

"[A] quiet exploration of love and its limits." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Starred Review

"Artful, original, insightful." —Kirkus Reviews

"A moving, thought-provoking story about coming-of-age in the midst of trauma." —Booklist 

The Book Thief. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Any book compared to both of these is in my eyes sure to have an exciting plot, be a fantastic eye opener, and have loveable characters. Anna and the Swallow Man did not disappoint. Just go and read it—it is impossible not to love." —The Guardian

The story is powerful enough to resonate with all ages....Savit's novel, though a quick read, is a powerful one. And just like the child is follows, it has a deeper poignancy masked by its seemingly simple surface." —Mashable

"Written like a love song for language — heartbreaking and entrancing and filled with characters whose survival is intimately, sometimes tragically, tied to their love of words." —Bustle


Awards

  • Odyssey Award