Her mother's mother, Grandmother Graham, offers to take them in on her farm in Central New Annan. Grandfather passed away in the spring and she is now alone on the farm. The prospect of a move frightens Anna. As expected, Anna finds that people in New Annan are also curious about her and drive by the farm to stare at her. This angers her grandmother.
Anna remembers when she was four years old how a man who came to see about a cow, advised her father "...to put her on exhibition..." to make money. At that time, Anna did not know what "exhibition" meant. Although her father sold the cow, he told the man his daughter was not for display. But worried about the coming winter, Anna was taken to Truro and show as "The Biggest Little Girl in Colchester County". Anna remembers being touched by strangers and later comforted by her mother.
One day after picking berries, Anna learns that a man has come from the city offering her father money to exhibit Anna at a museum of "oddities" in New York City. Her father flat out refuses. After church, while Anna is playing with her younger brothers, she steps on the foot of a boy. That boy, Jack McGregor, ridicules Anna for her size and calls her an elephant. Mr. McGregor is just as rude as his son, commenting on Anna's height and suggesting to her father that he shouldn't hide her, but show her off. Later on Grandmother reveals that McGregor has been attempting to take over her farm. Anna realizes her family has come to the farm to help prevent this from happening.
In September, 1858, Anna walks to school with her siblings. Before they leave for this first day of school, her father notches each child's height on the barn. Anna is a remarkable six feet, eleven inches tall. At school, Jack is the tallest boy but Anna is taller than him. He calls Anna a "monster" under his breath. Their teacher, Miss Miller, is a young woman who is shorter than Anna's mother. She is friendly, greeting each student as they come into school. Miss Miller greets Anna and tells her she's been looking forward to having her as a student. Anna sits at the back of the classroom, but wishes she could be at the front, close to the teacher - but only if she were smaller. The first day at her new school is a struggle for Anna, especially dealing with Jack McGregor. But Miss Miller kindly arranges for Anna's father to raise her desk so she can sit properly.
Meanwhile on the farm, the list of repairs grows and it is apparent that they need to take out a loan to survive. In November, Anna's mother gives birth to a baby girl named Eliza, a month early. As the family struggles to cope, Anna spies an ad in the serial magazine that Miss Miller has lent her about a growth supplement. She reasons if there is something to make people grow, perhaps there is something she can take that will stop her from growing. Anna's quest to find this takes her to the druggist at Gunn's General Store but he tells her that there is nothing to help her because tallness isn't an illness. However, Mr. McGregor overhears Anna and offers to help her earn the money to go to Boston to get the drug she needs by performing for him in Halifax. Anna decides to take McGregor up on his offer, not realizing what it might mean for her and her family.
Discussion
Swan is a fictional story about a real historical person known as Anna Swan who grew up in Nova Scotia. Author Sidura Ludwig encountered Anna's story while visiting the Anna Swan Museum in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia .In her Author's Note at the back, Ludwig writes that as a child she was tall for her age and understood how Anna must have felt. She "...decided to write Anna's story, imagining what life might be like for her when she was twelve years old." While some scenes in the novel really did happen (for example her father raising her desk at school), other events are fictional. Some historical details have also been altered, such as Anna's first exhibition, which was in Halifax and not Truro. Anna also toured many local fall fairs with her family. Anna who lived from 1846 to 1888, grew to be seven feet eleven inches tall and was known as the "Nova Scotia Giantess". Ludwig offers her readers a detailed biography of Anna Swan as well as a History of the Region.
Swan covers the span of four months from August to December, 1858 and focuses on Anna's internal struggle as a young girl who is abnormally tall. Anna wishes she could be small and not be so noticeable.
"I'm just a girl
who closes her eyes
and dreams of grown-up days
when she'll have grown
down"
Anna dreams of a home that she doesn't have to duck into, children who will grow taller than her and,
"People who see me
for something
other than my size"
Anna also dreams of making herself smaller with the help of a prescription drug:
I imagine pulling my bones into each other
pressing them down
like the way a house settles
over time
the wood shrinking into the ground
maybe just an inch
but I would take an inch
or give it, as the case maybe be
I sleep like this because for the first time
I believe
I can control my body
with just the right
prescription
I can finally be whomever
I want
Throughout the novel Anna wishes she could be different, someone else. It isn't until she goes to Halifax and is on exhibition that she begins to accept who she is. It is a difficult journey as she is "examined" by a group of doctors who look but don't listen and then as she is treated like property by McGregor. When Anna realizes that McGregor is not going to share the money he makes from showing her, Anna begins to realize that she has some power to change this. And she acts. Her desire to help herself, her baby sister Eliza and her family, motivate her. This change in her perspective is also experienced by Jack, after he sees his father's unkindness towards Anna and how he treats her like property. He feels shame and quietly supports Anna when she outmaneuvers his father and holds her own "exhibition".
Ludwig portrays Anna as clever, intelligent, caring and gentle. Unfortunately at this time, medical science was not advanced enough to understand why Anna grew to be so large. In the novel, Ludwig imagines Anna worrying about how tall she will be and if she will ever stop growing. These kinds of worries would be only natural for both Anna and her family, because at that time there were no answers.
Swan offers an interesting fictional account of Anna Swan, a little known historical figure in Canada's past. This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy novels in verse but they may struggle to get past the unattractive cover, to find the gem of a story.
Book Details:
Swan: The Girl Who Grew by Sidura Ludwig
Halifax: Nimbus Publishing Ltd. 2024
298 pp.
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