This short, creative, unsettling novel follows an unnamed teenager narrator who is stuck on an island off the New Hampshire coast in a separatist community of retirees (self-named The Wrinklies) who begrudgingly let her stay after her grandmother dies and her parents cannot be reached.

In Cygnet, Season Butler writes with clarity, wit, and rich description. Her imagination is on clear display and produced an immersive, memorable read.

One of the book’s endorsements compared the main character to Holden Caufield which caused me to approach the book apprehensively as I realllllly did not enjoy Catcher in the Rye. However, I must admit that the characterization is apt AND I liked it. The teenage confusion, the paradoxical observational astuteness juxtaposed with youthful naïveté, the uncertainty of self… all of this came together to reveal a complex and endearing narrator. The book is quiet and character-driven, exploring generational distrust & misunderstanding, the end of the world, and a person’s worth.