Shadow of the Lions: A Novel

by Christopher Swann

Overview

“My lungs began to burn as I started sprinting. It wasn’t just that I wanted to catch Fritz. I had the distinct feeling that I was chasing him, that I had to catch up with him, before something caught up with me.”

How long must we pay for the crimes of our youth? That is just one question Christopher Swann explores in this compulsively readable debut, a literary thriller set in the elite—and sometimes dark—environs of Blackburne, a prep school in Virginia. When Matthias Glass’s best friend, Fritz, vanishes without a trace in the middle of an argument during their senior year, Matthias tries to move on with his life, only to realize that until he discovers what happened to his missing friend, he will be stuck in the past, guilty, responsible, alone.

Almost ten years after Fritz’s disappearance, Matthias gets his chance. Offered a job teaching English at Blackburne, he gets swiftly drawn into the mystery. In the shadowy woods of his alma mater, he stumbles into a web of surveillance, dangerous lies, and buried secrets—and discovers the troubled underbelly of a school where the future had once always seemed bright.

A sharp tale full of false leads and surprise turns, Shadow of the Lions is also wise and moving. Christopher Swann has given us a gripping debut about friendship, redemption, and what it means to lay the past to rest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616208615
Publisher:	Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication date:	07/31/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	382,640
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Christopher Swann earned a PhD in creative writing from Georgia State University and has won awards and recognition from GSU, Washington and Lee University, and the Heekin Group Foundation’s Tara Fellowship for Short Fiction. He is the English department chair at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School, where he has taught for two decades. Swann lives with his wife and two sons in Atlanta.

Read an Excerpt

“My lungs began to burn as I started sprinting. It wasn’t just that I wanted to catch Fritz. I had the distinct feeling that I was chasing him, that I had to catch up with him, before something caught up with me.”

Editorial Reviews

Southern Living Best Books of the Year• Publishers Weekly Best Summer Books 2017

“Comes alive with action and intrigue.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“A promising, well-crafted debut. Flashes of lyrical agility suggest a bright new talent ready to roar.”
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“An engrossing and entertaining read. Swann deftly manages a dual narrative . . . It’s a swift tale well told, and at times eloquently so.”
—Seattle Times

“Swann’s tightly knit debut novel is a moving coming-of-age story with a noir twist that will appeal to readers of John Knowles’s A Separate Peace, N.H. Kleinbaum’s Dead Poets Society, and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.”
—Library Journal, starred review

“A wonderful coming of age story, a taut emotional rollercoaster, and a hell of a debut. Christopher Swann hits the sweet spot with a novel that has a gripping plot, beautifully rendered characters, and an accomplished style. I loved it.”
—David Liss, author of The Day of Atonement

“Both a poignant coming-of-age tale and a suspenseful mystery. Set in the persistently alluring environs of an elite prep school, where the idealistic image of striving achievement is always in conflict with the dark realities that trouble even the most privileged of lives, Shadow of the Lions illuminates the complexities of friendship, love, loyalty, and duty with remarkable wisdom and compassion.”
—Ed Tarkington, author of Only Love Can Break Your Heart

"Witty, fast paced, and satisfying, Shadow of the Lions is the perfect literary thriller for back-to-school season.”
—Foreword Reviews, starred review

“Swann steps on the gas for the last 100 pages, [and] the mystery takes off . . . ”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A twisty tale that surprises at every turn, Shadow of the Lions will keep you turning pages compulsively into the wee hours, cursing Christopher Swann for the inconvenience.”
—Jonathan Evison, author of This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance!

“Fast-paced and full of unexpected turns, Christopher Swann’s Shadow of the Lions pulls readers into the dark underworld looming beneath a prestigious boys’ boarding school.”
—Mira Jacob, author of The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing

“Swann is a gifted storyteller, a master at the twisty tale . . . Under Swann’s deft hand, ultimately, Shadow of the Lions explores the timeless complexity of deep friendship—how it shapes us, destroys us and sometimes remakes us.”
—Patti Callahan Henry, author of The Idea of Love

“A riveting literary mystery about power, privilege and the need to find the truth no matter how devastating it might be . . . This mystery is so well observed: its richly drawn characters are motivated by circumstances that feel true to life, and they speak with a rare authenticity. Swann also demonstrates a talent for setting—his Virginia woods feel either menacing or soothing depending on who enters them. Unsettling and beautifully written, Shadow of the Lions challenges the idea that we ever truly leave high school behind.”
—Shelf Awareness for Readers

From the Publisher

09/04/2017
An unsolved mystery plunges the best friend of a missing person into sinuous intrigues 10 years later in this confidently plotted literary thriller. In 2001, Fritz Davenport, a senior at the Blackburne School in Virginia, vanishes shortly after an emotional confrontation about a cheating incident admitted by his best friend, Matthias Glass. Fritz’s disappearance devastates his family and the lack of closure about his fate casts a pall over Matthias’s life. In 2011, Matthias—recovering from a failed relationship and blocked as a novelist—has taken on a temporary teaching gig at Blackburne. A student’s death rips open old wounds that he seeks to stanch with a renewed inquiry into Fritz’s fate. Exploring new clues provided by authorities and acquaintances, Matthias uncovers familial and institutional pathologies that his younger, guilt-ridden self could never have imagined. Swann renders his debut novel’s prep school setting with an authority that lends credibility to some of the more farfetched twists of its plot. Its melodramatic denouement notwithstanding, his tale keeps the reader guessing until it offers up its final revelations. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

In the tradition of Knowles's A SEPARATE PEACE, or perhaps Conroy's THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, this audiobook explores the microcosm of an elite boarding school—and the conflicts that dwell, in this case, behind the leonine statuary guarding the front gates. James Foster is an authoritative narrator whose authentic and accessible delivery makes this an easy listen. His pacing and rhythms with both dialogue and narrative are outstanding, as are his renditions of both male and female voices. While the novel’s intriguing opening—involving the unsolved mystery of a student's disappearance—is certainly a grabber, it is as much Foster's performance as it is the plot that keeps the listener engaged from start to finish. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

In the tradition of Knowles's A SEPARATE PEACE, or perhaps Conroy's THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, this audiobook explores the microcosm of an elite boarding school—and the conflicts that dwell, in this case, behind the leonine statuary guarding the front gates. James Foster is an authoritative narrator whose authentic and accessible delivery makes this an easy listen. His pacing and rhythms with both dialogue and narrative are outstanding, as are his renditions of both male and female voices. While the novel’s intriguing opening—involving the unsolved mystery of a student's disappearance—is certainly a grabber, it is as much Foster's performance as it is the plot that keeps the listener engaged from start to finish. L.B.F. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

2017-05-15
A novelist returns to his former prep school to teach, stirring up old memories of a schoolmate who vanished and various present-day student and teacher troubles in this debut novel.When Fritz Davenport goes missing in March of his senior year at the Blackburne School, his best friend and roommate, Matthias, assumes a fight they had was a contributing factor. Ten years later Matthias is back at the all-boys' school to teach English, having recently lost his girlfriend and confidence in his writing as he works on his second novel, for which he received a big advance. With Matthias narrating, Swann toggles between his character's student and teacher periods, showing how intense friendships and cruelty can mark adolescence indelibly and exploring how people deal with the memories and wounds as adults. Matthias exemplifies dealing badly. He's a bundle of unsettled issues, including his failings as a novelist, a busted love for Fritz's twin sister, his neglect of his parents—he probably doesn't even floss regularly. But it's Fritz's unresolved fate that eats at him most, a scab freshly torn with the death of one of his students in an unsolved shooting incident. He connects with a helpful deputy sheriff who originally worked on the Fritz case and stumbles on a campus figure who may be tied to both the recent student death and the decade-old disappearance. Trying to be both a school-days tale and a mystery, the novel doesn't do either full justice, giving only glancing views of student life and, for a while, just spotty details and speculation on what might have happened to Fritz. But Swann steps on the gas for the last 100 pages, at which point the mystery takes off and it's a pretty good ride. A patchy but promising work that suggests a writer likely to prove much stronger with his sophomore effort.

Kirkus Reviews