A Company of Swans

A Company of Swans

Author	Eva Ibbotson
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre	Historical, Romance novel
Published	1985 (Century Publishing)
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	256 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	978-0-7126-0818-3 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	37145989

A Company of Swans is a historical romance novel published in 1985 by Eva Ibbotson. The book is dedicated to Patricia Veryan. Critically well received, the young adult novel is starting to be obliquely referred to in reviews, as reviewers attempt to compliment a new work by comparing it to another, better established work.

Plot summary

Harriet Morton lives in Cambridge with her widowed father, the intolerant Merlin Professor of Classics at the University, and her frugal Aunt Louisa, who wishes her to marry an uninteresting entomology professor named Edward Finch-Dutton. After her father bans her from attending school, believing women should not be highly educated, the only freedom allowed to her are ballet lessons at Madame Lavarre's school. One day, a lesson is visited by Sasha Dubrov, a famous ballet master who asks Harriet to join his company for a tour of South America, which will begin in Manaus. Although she wants to accept, her father refuses to let her join the tour, and instead bans her from ballet lessons when she suggests the idea.

Shortly after this incident, Harriet joins Edward Finch-Dutton, Aunt Louisa and the rest of the Trumpington Tea Circle on a tour of Stavely, an old stately home which is beginning to fall into disrepair. While there, she leaves the group to explore the maze in the grounds, within which she meets Henry St. John Verney-Brandon, the son of the estate's owner, reading a book entitled "Amazon Adventure". Henry tells Harriet about his own desire to travel to the Amazon, and about the book's owner - an unnamed Boy who lived in the estate many years ago, and whom Henry, hearing the tales of the nurse the two shared, idolizes. Harriet, who has decided to run away to join the ballet company, promises Henry that she will search for the boy in Manaus, where he is thought to live.

Harriet then runs away by pretending to visit her friend Miss Betsy Fairfield, cancelling the visit at the last minute without her aunt's knowledge. She joins the Company and they practice for a week in Century Theatre before leaving for Manaus, where they will perform Giselle, Swan Lake, La Fille Mal Gardee, and Casse Noisette (The Nutcracker). On the first night in Manaus, Harriet's performance attracts the attention of Rom Verney, a wealthy Englishman who Harriet soon correctly suspects is The Boy Henry mentioned. The pair meet at a party Rom throws in his capacity as chairman of the Opera House trustees, and are instantly attracted to each other.

The next day, Harriet confirms that Rom used to live at Stavely, and asks him to help out there "For Henry's sake", which angers Rom - who recalls his past as the youngest son of Stavely's former owner, who, upon his father's death, was ousted by his half-brother Henry, and left by his fiancée Isobel who then married Henry. Meanwhile, in England, the elder Henry Brandon is dead, having committed suicide after bankrupting the estate, leaving Isobel widowed and penniless. She then recalls Rom, and decides to travel to Manaus to enlist his help. She is joined on the steamer by Edward Finch-Dutton, sent by Harriet's father, who has discovered her deception, to bring her back to England.

Isobel is delayed when Henry develops measles and the pair are forced to stop while he recovers. Edward travels on to Manaus to find Harriet; however, the ballet company form a plan to stop him. With Rom's help, they convince Edward that ballet is a perfectly respectable career, and he should convince Harriet's father to let her continue on the tour. However, Edward is then outraged when he sees Harriet dancing at a gentleman's club - which she does only to save her friend Marie-Claude from being seen at the club by her fiancé's cousin. Edward decides to kidnap Harriet and take her back to England, but she escapes with the help of Rom - who has realized the misunderstanding after seeing the elder Henry Brandon's obituary.

Forced to abandon the ballet to avoid Edward, Harriet takes refuge in Rom's house, where, at her request, they become lovers. While Harriet believes that Rom will shortly leave her, Rom intends to propose to Harriet, but is disturbed by her occasionally distant attitude, which he believes is distress at being forced to abandon her promising ballet career. Harriet returns to Manaus to say goodbye to the ballet company as they leave for the next stop on the tour, and returns to Rom's house to find Henry waiting for her there, who informs her that his mother plans to marry Rom. She leaves without saying goodbye to Rom, and returns with the ballet company to England, intending to travel on to Russia and perform. However, she is captured by her father and locked in the house as punishment for many months.

After Harriet has given up all hope, Rom finally tracks her down, having been searching since the day she disappeared. He pretends to be a doctor in order to smuggle her from her aunt's custody, and then tells her that he intends to marry her and make her the mistress of Stavely, which he has now purchased. He forces her father to give his permission, intimidating him in front of his students, who then rebel against their most boring teacher. In the epilogue, the pair are happily married with three children, and Henry, who has inherited part of the estate from Rom, intends to return to the Amazon and fulfill his dream of becoming an explorer.

The book was inspired by Juliette Rocher.

Publishing details

• 1985, UK, Century Press (ISBN 978-0-7126-0818-3), pub date 27 June 1985, hardback (first edition)
• 1985, USA, St. Martin's Press (ISBN 0-312-15323-6), pub date ? September 1985, hardback

2007 published by young picador ISBN 978-0-230-01484-8