The Ebony Swan
by Phyllis A. Whitney
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Fiction. Romance. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:Family secrets are locked away at the intimidating Virginia estate of a prima ballerina in this suspenseful tale from a New York Times–bestselling author. Susan Prentice is a young nurse at a crossroads. She's broken off an engagement, the father who raised her has just died, and now she's leaving the western shores behind for a trip to her family's home on Virginia's Northern Neck—where she saw her mother fall to her death twenty-five years show more ago. There, Susan's grandmother, former ballet diva Alexandrina "Alex" Vargas Montoro, proves a formidable sentinel for the family's mysterious history. At first welcomed by her long-estranged relatives, spied on by suspicious neighbors, and drawn to Peter, Alex's handsome young doctor, Susan has nothing but questions. And for every answer, there's a warning—and the fear that she has only Peter to trust in. But even the doctor's past is shaded with murder. Soon Susan will discover that she alone holds the key to her mother's suspicious death, hidden away in her shattered memories. And someone intimately close to her is prepared to bury the truth forever. The Ebony Swan is a "carefully crafted novel of psychological suspense by . . . [a] Mystery Writers of America Grand Master" (Publishers Weekly). This ebook features an illustrated biography of Phyllis A. Whitney including rare images from the author's estate. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Phyllis Whitney was one of my favorite authors during the teenage years. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed her work.
Her writing is dense, but still reads quickly. I don't mean dense in a bad way. I simply mean that her writing paints detailed word pictures for the reader. E.G., describing the interior of a church: "Out of the sun's heat, the air inside seemed several degrees cooler....At the foot of the main aisle, the high walls of wooden pews rose on either hand, and her apprehension increased....Susan tilted her head back to encompass high spaces of floating light - light that poured in filtered beams through three oxeye windows set into deep eaves."
The other thing that I love about her writing is that she literally keeps you guessing show more till the very end, much like Hitchcock or Christie. You may think you know who-done-it, but you may very well be wrong.
Finally, I love the way this one ended - the actual story, yes, but also the manner in which it is written. You have the exciting climax; then you have a calm chapter to tie up the loose ends. Think of the battle scene at the end of the original Star Wars; then the scene with the award ceremony. Very satisfying.
In another life, this would have been a quick afternoon's or evening's read. Now, life gets in the way. show less
Her writing is dense, but still reads quickly. I don't mean dense in a bad way. I simply mean that her writing paints detailed word pictures for the reader. E.G., describing the interior of a church: "Out of the sun's heat, the air inside seemed several degrees cooler....At the foot of the main aisle, the high walls of wooden pews rose on either hand, and her apprehension increased....Susan tilted her head back to encompass high spaces of floating light - light that poured in filtered beams through three oxeye windows set into deep eaves."
The other thing that I love about her writing is that she literally keeps you guessing show more till the very end, much like Hitchcock or Christie. You may think you know who-done-it, but you may very well be wrong.
Finally, I love the way this one ended - the actual story, yes, but also the manner in which it is written. You have the exciting climax; then you have a calm chapter to tie up the loose ends. Think of the battle scene at the end of the original Star Wars; then the scene with the award ceremony. Very satisfying.
In another life, this would have been a quick afternoon's or evening's read. Now, life gets in the way. show less
"The Ebony Swan", by Phyllis A. Whitney, was another treasure found at the Friends of the Library semi-annual book sale. I enjoy Mr. Whitney's novels. She had the ability to write novels with interesting characters, original plots, and settings that were so well described, I always feel that I'm actually there.
In this unique novel, the main character, Susan Prentice, finds herself going back in time. After the death of her father, she vows to reconnect with her estranged maternal grandmother, Alex. Yet, when she arrives, she does not find the warm welcome that she had hoped for. There are secrets that may unravel the mystery of her mother's death. As she reestablishes a relationship with Alex, the two work together to build a show more relationship and solve the mystery of her mother's death. Will the truth bring them closer, or tear them apart? show less
In this unique novel, the main character, Susan Prentice, finds herself going back in time. After the death of her father, she vows to reconnect with her estranged maternal grandmother, Alex. Yet, when she arrives, she does not find the warm welcome that she had hoped for. There are secrets that may unravel the mystery of her mother's death. As she reestablishes a relationship with Alex, the two work together to build a show more relationship and solve the mystery of her mother's death. Will the truth bring them closer, or tear them apart? show less
If reviews came with musical accompaniment, you'd be hearing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah as you read this. I've finally finished this book.
There's a combination of factors involved in the blame for my incredibly slow progress: I'm in a slump, and therefore easily distracted by anything right now - it doesn't even have to be shiny; life has been busy and when I did sit down to read, interruptions abounded; this is not Whitney's best work. By a long shot.
Susan's father took her away from her grandmother's home and cut off all contact, after the death of her mother under mysterious circumstances. Susan was the only witness and at 5, suppressed the memories. Now her father's dead, she's an adult, and she's returning to her show more grandmother's home in Virginia to get to know her and figure out why she can't remember her own mother. But grandma has a trunk-load of secrets she's less than enthusiastic about sharing, and nobody else seems to want Susan to come back at all.
This is one of Whitney's later books, written in the 80's, and she's still got her magic touch when it comes to atmosphere, setting, and characters. But the story dragged... the pacing was continental drift slow, and there was so much time spent in the heads of the characters, it was a challenge to keep myself engaged. And when everything came together with a solution/ending that was twisted in that way in which Whitney excelled (this is an author who really understood long-simmering anger and epic grudges), I was so ...exhausted by the slow pacing that I just couldn't feel the punch I should have.
It's good, it's even a bit haunting, but you have to really be patient with it, and in the midst of a slump, patience is thin on the ground. show less
There's a combination of factors involved in the blame for my incredibly slow progress: I'm in a slump, and therefore easily distracted by anything right now - it doesn't even have to be shiny; life has been busy and when I did sit down to read, interruptions abounded; this is not Whitney's best work. By a long shot.
Susan's father took her away from her grandmother's home and cut off all contact, after the death of her mother under mysterious circumstances. Susan was the only witness and at 5, suppressed the memories. Now her father's dead, she's an adult, and she's returning to her show more grandmother's home in Virginia to get to know her and figure out why she can't remember her own mother. But grandma has a trunk-load of secrets she's less than enthusiastic about sharing, and nobody else seems to want Susan to come back at all.
This is one of Whitney's later books, written in the 80's, and she's still got her magic touch when it comes to atmosphere, setting, and characters. But the story dragged... the pacing was continental drift slow, and there was so much time spent in the heads of the characters, it was a challenge to keep myself engaged. And when everything came together with a solution/ending that was twisted in that way in which Whitney excelled (this is an author who really understood long-simmering anger and epic grudges), I was so ...exhausted by the slow pacing that I just couldn't feel the punch I should have.
It's good, it's even a bit haunting, but you have to really be patient with it, and in the midst of a slump, patience is thin on the ground. show less
A romantic-mystery novel with a style.
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Author Information
108+ Works 11,704 Members
Mystery author Phyllis A. Whitney was born in Yokohama, Japan to American parents on September 9, 1903. After her father's death in 1918, she and her mother traveled from Japan to San Francisco, California on an ocean liner. In 1924, she graduated from McKinley High School in Chicago and sold short stories to newspapers, church papers, and pulp show more magazines as well as worked in bookstores and libraries. She was a Children's Book Editor of the Chicago Sun's Book Week from 1942 to 1946 and the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1947 to 1948. She also taught juvenile fiction writing courses at Northwestern University in 1945 and at New York University from 1947 to 1958. She writes both juvenile and adult mysteries, many set in an exotic location. Her first juvenile book was published in 1941 and her first adult novel was published in 1943. Since then, she has written over 75 books. She has won numerous awards including the Edgar Allen Poe Award in 1961 and 1964, the Sequoyah Award of Oklahoma, and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1988. Phyllis A. Whitney passed away on February 8, 2008 at the age of 104. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Ebony Swan
- Original publication date
- 1992
- People/Characters
- Susan Prentice; Alexandrina Vargas Montoro (Alex | Drina); John Gower; Juan Gabriel Montoro; Emily Townsend Gower
- Important places
- Tangier Island, Virginia, USA; Northern Neck, Virginia, USA; Christ Church, Virginia, USA
- Dedication
- For Leona Nevler
Thank you for believing in my books when few others did, and for helping me to achieve my first "best seller." Because of your support beginning nearly thirty years ago at Fawcett, my books now appear ... (show all)everywhere in paper. Equally important has been your friendship for all these years. - First words
- Alex slammed the car door as hard as she could, the sound venting some of her irritation.
- Quotations
- No one could OWE love. Love made its own rules.
Only those who grow old together took the changes for granted and forget the look of youth.
Only disappointment could result from too much remembering.
The whole world's more connected these days. Maybe that's good, but individuality can be lost. ~ Fred Parks.
It takes us all a good many years to find out the real person we want to become. In the meantime we may even become a person we no longer care much about knowing. ~ Alexandrina (Drina) Vargas Montoro
A child who had never known her mother had probably built up fantasies around an imaginary figure. Fantasies that a real woman might never live up to. (show all 10)
Is one ever free of suppressed memories?
If only we could understand our potential while we're still young - then anything would be possible. But I suppose the young would be still more impossible if that were the case. ~ Alexandrina (Drina) Vargas Montoro
The young are like that, never dreaming that what lies ahead may be more remarkable than anything yet experienced. And sometimes for the worse, in terms of pain. ~ Alexandrina (Drina) Vargas Montoro
Men age more successfully than women. ~ Alexandrina (Drina) Vargas Montoro - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)She stepped back from the doorway, her smile young and beautiful to those who watched, and let the three of them in.
- Blurbers
- Clark, Mary Higgins; Michaels, Barbara
- Original language
- English
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- Reviews
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- (3.44)
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- English, Finnish, German, Portuguese
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- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 25
- ASINs
- 11
