Nebraska author Timothy Schaffert has stuck close to his state roots in both his writing and professional career. Currently the Chair of English and Director of Creative Writing at UNL, Schaffert is also the co-editor of Zero Street Fiction, and as of this June, the editor of the well-known literary journal Prairie Schooner. Known for his recent bestsellers, The Titanic Survivors Book Club and The Perfume Thief, Schaffert’s 2015 novel The Swan Gondola, is perfect for State Fair season and also stays close to home by featuring the 1898 Omaha World’s Fair.
A balloon crashes on a farmhouse in the middle of Nebraska and inside is a man of wizardry and illusions. As he is nursed back to health by the Old Sisters Egan, the magician regales them with the tale of his dramatic departure from the tumultuous city of Omaha and the seedy underbelly of the 1898 World’s Fair. It is a story of love built on deception, greed, and magic. And at the heart of it, is the Fair’s mastermind who stole our hero’s true love away.
“It was not part of Omaha, but something in place of it, something else entirely. In this new place that had risen from the city’s humid summer fog, the breezes seemed blown in from the sea.”
Timothy Schaffert
While the lasting economic impact of the Omaha World’s Fair is dubious, its influence on culture is not- most specifically in literature. Inspired by the fair itself, Frank Baum’s titular Wizard of Oz is nothing more than a circus magician from Omaha, Nebraska, worshiped by the Ozians for his seemingly real powers. In The Swan Gondola, Schaffert has taken this enigmatic character and imagines his down-to-earth origins complete with an emerald palace, winged monkeys, and a little girl named Dorothy. For Book Club Groups looking for a little bit of summer magic and drama, this novel indulges in the classic romantic tale of traveling theatre troupes, circuses, and the rogues who make their living roaming from town to town across the United States. Will Ferret and Cecily’s summer love stand up to the test, or will it be as fragile as the grand faux facades dotting the Grand Court?
If you’re interested in requesting Swan Gondola for your book club, you can find the Request Form here. There are 16 copies. (A librarian must request items)
Schaffert, Timothy. Swan Gondola. Riverhead Books. (2015)
