Swarm

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In a not-so-far-off future of diminished energy reserves and collapsing economies, thirty-seven-year-old Sandy Burch-Bailey lives a difficult existence. She survives by fishing, farming, and beekeeping in a small island community with her partner, Marvin, and their elderly and ill friend, Thompson. As they wait for an overdue supply ship to arrive with medicine for Thompson, vegetables go missing from their garden. A footprint in the soil leads Sandy to believe the thief is a homeless youngster. Childless and aching to be a mother, Sandy narrates her story to the child, reliving her life in a city plagued by power outages, unemployment, and violent protests. When the girl’s life is threatened, Sandy and Marvin must come together to protect both the child and their fragile community.Told in two storylines divided by geography and time, Swarm is a suspenseful and powerful debut novel about survival and coming to terms with life’s regrettable choices.From BooklistImbued with dark lyricism and a disturbingly credible view of the end of the world, Carter’s debut sifts through the lives of people existing on an isolated island, grappling just to survive a time of enormous social upheaval and change. Cassandra “Sandy” Burch-Bailey fled her crumbling city just before the power finally went out and plunged it into a mire of chaos and crime. Her practical, hard-eyed boyfriend, Marvin, and the elderly, ill Thomson are her only companions—until Sandy notices missing food and tiny footprints in the garden. Convinced a wild child is also on the island and stealing their food for sustenance, Sandy begins to narrate her story to what she envisions is a little girl while also putting out plates of their very meager food supply. Creating a quite convincing view of how our economic system and social conveniences might dissolve, the story is carried by strong, descriptive writing by poet Carter, further impelled by the sense of mystery around the feral girl and wonderment over what will become of the characters. A somberly melodic, literary foray into the current dystopian trend. --Julie Trevelyan About the AuthorLauren Carter has been published in several literary journals and has been nominated for the Journey Prize. Lichen Bright, her first collection of poetry, was long-listed for the ReLit Award. Her non-fiction articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including National Geographic Traveler, This Magazine, the Georgia Straight, First Nations Drum, The Writer, and Adbusters. A transplanted Ontarian, she currently lives in The Pas, Manitoba. Swarm is her first novel. More information can be found on her website laurencarter.ca.