Kerry Andrew is a London-based composer, performer and writer, and Swansong is her debut novel.
Unsurprisingly (considering Andrew’s background), music is weaved throughout the story. Swansong is told from the perspective of Polly Vaughan: a student who runs away from a terrible event she was involved with in London, to the relative peace and quiet of the Scottish Highlands.
She’s a pretty typical young person, and soon seeks out entertainment, drugs and alcohol to numb her feelings of guilt. However, the calm is ruptured when Polly gets caught up with a mysterious man with a dark past, and she begins to see some fantastical things.
Andrew’s descriptions of the Highlands are evocative and arresting, and as a reader you are drawn in by the loner Polly befriends.
However, Polly herself is a bit too immature to really connect with as a character, making her a frustrating narrator of the novel.
Her childish emotions and actions are at odds with the ancient mythology Andrew brings into the story, which makes for a slightly jarring read.
