Black Swan Green by David Mitchell Book Review

A departure from David Mitchell’s fantasy genre, Black Swan Green (2006) is a semi-autobiographical novel that delves into the author’s struggle with stammering as a teenager.

Mitchell grew up in Malvern, home to the most iconic landscape Worcestershire has to offer — the Malvern Hills.

Like Mitchell, I grew up in Worcestershire, and so I could not have been happier to discover this book. It was a joy to read about all the places that I know and love.

Although the village of ‘Black Swan Green’ is made-up, all the other place names are real.

Black Swan Green is set in the 80s, the time of Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands War.

Each chapter represents a month of thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor’s life. We encounter his struggles with stammering, his closet writing, and the tensions between his parents which gradually escalate throughout the novel.

Mitchell makes poignant observations of the awkward transition from boy to man and puts you in Jason’s shoes as he battles to fit in.

In fact, the true to life account of living with a stammer made Black Swan Green a recommended read by leading bibliotherapist, Ella Berthoud.

The writing is humorous, full of life, and Mitchell’s use of imagery is fiercely original.

One of the moments that particularly stood out for me was the description of Jason watching his granddad’s ultra-expensive Omega Seamaster fall to pieces, as though ‘time’ itself was falling out.

I think Mitchell used this hyperbolic imagery to emphasise the gravity of the situation. It took me back to when I was young and breaking or losing something felt like a big deal.

The novel also perfectly captures what it’s like to live in Worcestershire, or ‘the middle somewhere’. Despite the 80s setting, some of the observations still seemed relevant to now.

At one point Jason’s mum mentions the lack of opportunities compared to London. This is something that I have been acutely aware of. Worcestershire is rural and beautiful, but it is also quiet and a difficult place to find work in the creative sectors.

There are a few things that people unfamiliar with this neck of the woods may not notice. For instance, some of the character surnames are in fact names of small villages from across Worcestershire, including Croome, Bredon and Throckmorton.

Tucked in this novel is also a surprise for fans of Mitchell’s more famous novel, Cloud Atlas (2004).

The semi-autobiographical Black Swan Green is completely unrelated to the fantastical Cloud Atlas.

However the narrative from the latter lives on in Black Swan Green with the reappearance of the mysterious Madame Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck. Having fled Belgium during the second world war, she has settled in Worcestershire.

And for anyone who enjoys Black Swan Green, one of the characters reappears in The Bone Clocks (2014).

I feel Mitchell is one of very few authors who can set off so many complex plot strands but rein them in enough to create a coherent story. Writing in such a way is a gamble. One wrong move and you wind up losing your reader, or create more questions than answers.

I implore more people, whether you’re from this county or not, to read Black Swan Green. This novel is proof that Worcestershire is worth writing and reading about. I can also add that it is a worthwhile place to visit!

If you’ve read Black Swan Green, I would love to know your thoughts.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The edition pictured above was published in 2007 by Sceptre, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton.

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