Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Anna and the Swallow Man

By: Gavriel Savit
Narrated by: Allan Corduner
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Anna and the Swallow Man is a stunning, literary and wholly original debut novel that tells a new WWII story.

Kraków, 1939, is no place to grow up. There are a million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. And Anna Lania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father and suddenly, she’s alone.

Then she meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall. And, like Anna's missing 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.

Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgement, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous....

©2016 Gavriel Savit (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Ways We End: Six Tales of Doom cover art
Exit Unicorns cover art
Stonefather cover art
Black Feathers cover art
The Glass Sentence cover art
Tomorrow cover art
A Well-Tempered Heart cover art
The Little Prince cover art
The Time Traveler's Wife cover art
The Last Survivors cover art
The Hidden City cover art
The Pearl Thief cover art
Wicked cover art
The Ragged Edge of Night cover art
War Brides cover art
All the Crooked Saints cover art

What listeners say about Anna and the Swallow Man

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautifully read by allun corduner

This is a heart warming, gut wrenching, thought provoking book. It deserves many accolades. If you read only one book about WW 2, make sure it is this one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Nuanced literary novel, don't let the YA tag deter

This is a literary novel, beautifully written and narrated and well worth a listen even if you are far removed from the labelled 'Young Adult' audience. C.S. Lewis wrote, 'No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” And, of that, Anna and the Swallow Man is a perfect example; I expect most adult readers will take more away, read more into the subtlety of this story and its characters, than most of the YA genre's intended age group.

If the summary and sample at all grab you, I'd recommend the listen. I know it'll be on my re-read/re-listen list in the future.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I’ve never read anything quite like this, a new genre?

I’m not sure what age audience this book was written for, maybe it was written to be read by older teenagers, up to adults. I am in my sixties and I have to say that I really enjoyed listening to every single word and I can’t say that about anything else I have ever read, apart perhaps from when reading poetry. Words are used in a very beautiful way in this gripping novel. The mystery surrounding the actual story continues throughout, making you want to keep listening. I believe the book could be interpreted on many levels and could become a classic.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!