This is a good debut book about family, friendship and courage which will make you smile but make you listen as well. The story of Diamond Newberry and her life choices, this is a coming of age story that is interesting, has humour and has issues most of us can relate to.

A good book and a well written debut. Look forward to see what this author writes next. 3 1/2 stars for this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Australia & New Zealand for giving me the opportunity to read adn review this book.

In "Swift River," we follow Diamond Newberry, an overweight Black teenager navigating life in a mostly white New England town. Diamond and her mother are haunted by her father's mysterious disappearance, leaving them uncertain about his fate amidst swirling rumors. Despite their financial hardships, Diamond's mother clings to the hope of an insurance payout, believing it could change their luck after seven years.

Diamond relies on food for comfort, often teased for her weight in school as the only brown person in town. Unsure about her mom's behavior, Diamond finds solace in letters from her father's relative, who becomes close to her. Through these letters, she learns about the important women in her father's life before he vanished. The story spans three time periods: his upbringing, life before the disappearance, and what happened after.

While the premise was intriguing, the narrative lacked a little cohesion for me in some sections. I still felt that this is a strong debut and a coming-of-age story of a young girl as she navigates the influences of her upbringing and family dynamics, or their absence, in her life. Thank you #Net Galley and #Hachette Australia & NZ for an advanced reading copy.

4 1/2⭐️

A coming of age story set in America in the 1980s. We met Diamond Newberry after her father has gone missing.

Born to a white mother and a black father, in a town where her father was the only black person in Swift River, Diamond struggles with identity and is the victim of racism. Once her father disappears she struggles even further.

This book is full of complex characters, and I never really knew whether I felt angry with her mother or sad because her mother was obviously struggling with her own demons.

I loved the way this story unfolded, with pieces of information weaved throughout from multiple sources, and I’m a sucker for an epistolary novel.



Thank you to Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback

1987, Diamond Newberry is sixteen years old, extremely over weight and lonely and she’s the only biracial person in Swift River. Diamond lives with her mother Anna, she has a drug habit and hasn’t been the same since her husband Robert and Diamond’s father went missing seven years ago. Anna and Diamond struggle to make ends meet, they hitch rides into town and Anna is waiting for Robert to be declared legally deceased and claim his insurance money.

Diamond has been secretly saving up to take driving lessons as her mum doesn’t want her to learn, here she meets Shelly and the only friend she has and around the same time Diamond receives a letter from her father’s estranged Aunt Lena, a lady she has never met and she writes about Robert's childhood and the Newberry family history. Diamond discovers she had a Great-Aunt Clara and she was a mid-wife in the mill Town of Swift River in the early 1900’s, and like Diamond she was the only coloured person.

I received a copy Essie J. Chambers debut novel Swift River from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Told from the points of view of three Newberry women, the story jumps around a lot and I must admit I found it confusing and at times hard to follow and I’m not sure if I really got the meaning of the narrative and pieced all together correctly?

The family certainly had a lot of secrets, and Diamond loved her father, she wasn’t ready to move on and then she changes her mind. I wondered did Robert really die and stage his own death by the banks of the river and possibly?

A story about racism and prejudice, love and loss, and comfort eating and dysfunctional families. With a small amount of humour added and I did find it hilarious when Diamond cleaned her bike and to make sure it was stolen and three stars from me. Please read the book to make up your own mind, I could have missed something important, despite rereading parts of it and taking notes and it’s released on the 11th of June 2024.

Thank you for the ARC! I loved this story, it was extremely well written. Will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author!