Olympus, Texas - Stacey Swann

'The Iliad meets Friday Night Lights in this muscular, captivating debut'
Oprah Magazine

'A gorgeous debut that conjures one small town and the big emotions of its wealthiest family, the Briscoes, whose saga plays out over six days of pain, rage and love'
People, Best of Summer

'I read without breathing - OK, maybe I gasped - and I experienced the characters' grief and regret as if they were my own'
New York Times

'The novel is based on Greek myths but you don't need to know your Zeus from your Apollo to enjoy this saga full of deceit and drama'
Good Housekeeping

'Beautifully written and filled with atmosphere... a hugely accomplished debut'
Prima

'Secrets, lies and deceptions with Greek myth-like undertones... A literary family saga that spans one week and packs in everything from infidelity to a shooting'
High Life

'A total page-turner'
Kirkus (starred review)

'The most wildly entertaining novel I've read in a long time'
Richard Russo winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

When March Briscoe returns to East Texas two years after he was caught having an affair with his brother's wife, the Briscoe family becomes once again the talk of the small town of Olympus. His mother, June, hardly welcomes him back with open arms: her husband's own past affairs have made her tired of being the long-suffering spouse. Is it, perhaps, time for a change?

But within days of March's arrival, someone is dead, marriages are upended, and even the strongest of alliances are shattered. In the end, the ties that hold the Briscoes together might be exactly what drag them all down.

An expansive tour de force, Olympus, Texas combines the archetypes of Greek and Roman mythology with the psychological complexity of a messy family. After all, at some point, we all wonder: what good is this destructive force we call love?