© Beth Perkins

Susan Swan's new novel, What Casanova Told Me, was a Globe and Mail book of the year and nominated for the 2004 regional Canada Caribbean Commonwealth prize. It was also picked as one of Toronto's Now Magazine and the Calgary Herald's top ten books of 2004. Macleans', Canada's national newsmagzine, picked its heroine Asked For Adams as one of the top five literary characters of 2004. The novel is based on her journals.  In Swan's novel, Asked For Adams, the fictitious cousin of former American president John Adams, travels with Casanova during the last years of his life. The book celebrates the unexpected in life and travel as a form of love. Editions will be published in Russia and Spain next year.

Swan's novels and short stories have been published in twenty countries, including Canada, the U.S., Germany, Poland, Spain, the U.K., Australia, Italy and Holland. One of her novels, The Wives of Bath, was a finalist for the Guardian Fiction and Ontario's Trillium. US publisher is Knopf; Granta is its UK publisher. The Wives of Bath was recently picked by a US reader's guide as one of the best novels of the nineties.

A film based on her novel, The Wives of Bath, about a murder in a girls' boarding school, was released July 6, 2001 in the U.S. and July 27, 2001 in Canada under the title Lost and Delirious. The film has been sold to 32 countries; US movie critic Roger Ebert gave it a rave in his Chicago-Sun Times Review. Director was award-winning Lea Pool; screenplay was by Canadian playwright, Judith Thomson. The film was picked for premiere selection at Sundance and Berlin Film Festival 2001.

Since the debut of Lost and Delirious, the novel has gone on to have a third life on websites around the world in which web users act out the roles of Paulie and Mouse and Tory in internet role playing games.

Swan's novel about a giantess who exhibited with P.T. Barnum, The Biggest Modern Woman of the World, was a finalist for Canada's Best First Novel Award and the Governor-General's Award for Fiction. It was recently published in Spain (fall 2003) by Losada. The Last of the Golden Girls, was published in the U.S. by Arcade of Little Brown (1990). Swan's short story collection, Stupid Boys Are Good to Relax With, was published in l996. Stories from this collection were excerpted in l996 fall issues of Granta and Ms. magazine. The collection is a lively look at short-term relationships partly set in cyberspace.

Praise for What Casanova Told Me
“In its inventive range, its playful engagement and tantalizing mystery, What Casanova Told Me is breathtaking, a tour de force that detonates echoes of the past within the present…Utterly seductive.”—Globe and Mail 

 “An exotic romance, a rollicking adventure, a work of prose that could almost be poetry...This magnificently sad and funny and exciting trip is, indeed, one you’d be very sad you missed.”—Calgary Herald 

“There is something both titillating and fantastical about this type of historical fiction, and Swan is adept at spinning facts into vividly imagined scenes and characters.”—Quill & Quire

“Alluring…the stories(of the two protagonists) weave together well, and Asked For, in particular, has a bright, engaging voice.” Publishers Weekly

“Swan uses dual narratives as an effective page-turning device in exploring the women's sexual awakenings. Her prose is often poetic, the characters charming. Recommended for most public libraries.” Library Journal

“Engaging… nice historical color and a raft of exotic settings.” Kirkus

“Rich in interesting digressions into subjects as diverse as Minoan goddess worship and Western Orientalist stereotypes. Swan ...has much to say about the emotional risks required to live a fulfilled life.” Washington Post