The Girl in a Swing

A haunting, erotic, somewhat mystical story of sexual obsession. Set near Newbury sometime during the last century, it has an old-fashioned air, portraying English provincial life as it used to be.

The narrator is a sensitive, naive young man who deals in fine ceramics. He falls passionately in love with a Danish woman, and they marry, but she has a dreadful secret that leads to tragedy. The book's title refers to an antique figurine that plays a part in the plot.

I've re-read this book several times, trying to figure out if there was something I missed that would answer the questions raised in the final chapters. An English ceramics expert who values his orderly life meets a woman while on a business trip. He falls in love and marries her. Suddenly his life is delightfully disorderly, except for small, disturbing details. Strange things appear in or near the pleasant country home he's known all his life—a black dog, a child's toy, a voice on the telephone. All this builds up to a terrible revelation. I loved this book for its… show more.