Winner of the 2017 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production
A New York Times Bestseller
A Booklist Editorsâ Choice Audio
An AudioFile Best Audiobook of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year
A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
Winner of the Indies Choice Book Award              Â
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award
"Exquisite." âThe Wall Street Journal
"This is masterly storytelling." âThe New York Times Book Review
A stunning, beautiful, and ambitious debut novel set in Poland during the Second World War perfect for readers of All the Light We Cannot See and The Book Thief.
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KrakÃŗw, 1939. A million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. This is no place to grow up. Anna Åania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father, a linguistics professor, during their purge of intellectuals in Poland. Sheâs alone.
And then Anna meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall, a skilled deceiver with more than a little magic up his sleeve. And when the soldiers in the streets look at him, they see what he wants them to see.
The Swallow Man is not Annaâs fatherâshe knows that very wellâbut she also knows that, like her father, heâs in danger of being taken, and like her father, he has a gift for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, even Bird. When he summons a bright, beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying, Anna is entranced. She follows him into the wilderness.
Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgment, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous. Even the Swallow Man.Â
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Destined to become a classic, Gavriel Savitâs stunning debut reveals lifeâs hardest lessons while celebrating its miraculous possibilities.