Swamplandia!

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

A National Bestseller and Pulitzer Prize Finalist
A wildly inventive coming-of-age story set in the lush, haunted swamps of the Florida Everglades—where magic, grief, and family collide.

From Karen Russell, author of Vampires in the Lemon Grove and a MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient, comes the critically acclaimed debut novel Swamplandia!—a darkly whimsical, deeply moving tale of adolescence, loss, and survival on the edge of reality.

Thirteen-year-old Ava Bigtree has spent her life performing in her family’s gator-wrestling theme park, Swamplandia!, nestled deep in the Florida Everglades. But when her mother—the park’s dazzling star performer—dies of cancer, Ava’s world begins to unravel. Her father disappears on a mysterious business trip, her sister is seduced by a ghostly figure known only as the Dredgeman, and her genius brother defects to a hell-themed rival amusement park: The World of Darkness.

Determined to hold her fractured family together, Ava sets off on a treacherous, otherworldly journey through the enchanted and eerie wilderness of the swamps. What follows is a mesmerizing blend of magical realism, folklore, and gothic Southern storytelling, full of heart and suspense.

🌴 Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, George Saunders, and Jesmyn Ward
🌴 Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller
🌴 A richly atmospheric novel exploring grief, girlhood, and the blurred line between the real and the surreal

Format: Paperback 
Genre: Literary Fiction, Magical Realism, Coming-of-Age
Themes: Family, Loss, Myth & Folklore, Resilience
Audience: Fans of surreal fiction, literary fantasy, Southern gothic novels, and unforgettable female protagonists

✨ Swamplandia! is a bravely imagined, genre-defying novel that takes readers on a spellbinding adventure through grief, love, and the magic hidden in the margins of the world.