A Company of Swans (1985) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Harriet Morton: Main character. Daughter of Professor Morton (mother died at a young age). Does not attend school, but had gone to ballet classes. Good natured, good listener, and kind.
• Rom Verney: Rubber barron residing in Brazil. Not yet thirty yet has grey streaks of hair. An adventurer. Known also as "The Boy".
• Aunt Louisa: Harriet's aunt; her father's spinster sister who helped raise her
• Henry Brandon: Rom's nephew. Harriet's good friend whom she met in the maze of Stavley's.
• Edward Finch-Dutton: Harriet's intended husband, a scientist that specializes in fleas and other insects.
• Madame Simonova: Prima ballerina of the corps.
• Isobel: Young Henry's mother, Rom's ex-fiancée, Rom's older half-brother's wife (widow).
• Marie-Claude: A fellow ballerina. A young french dancer who is engaged to Vincent and hopes to open a restaurant with him.
• Dubov: In charge of the ballet corps. Loves Simonova.
• Kirstin: A fellow ballerina.

Quotes edit see section history

• “Loneliness had taught Harriet that there was always -someone- who understood--it was just that so very often they were dead, and in a book.”

• “Harriet had always loved words: tasted them on her tongue, thought of them as friends. The word 'serendipity' was one she valued especially, its meaning rooted in the world of fairy tales: "The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident."”

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• Live not as though a thousand years are ahead of you. Fate is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still yours.

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• Loneliness had taught Harriet that there was always someone who understood – it was just that so very often they were dead, and in a book.

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• ‘The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.’

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• she danced as if she were alone in the world and had only this gift to pour into the heartbreaking emptiness.

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• In such a night stood Dido with a willow in her hand upon the wild sea banks, and waft her love to come again to Carthage . . . In such a night Medea gathered the enchanted herbs that did renew old Aeson . . .

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• But sometimes . . . just sometimes, there are babies who appear to have swallowed some small private sun, rosy and endlessly obliging babies who explode into laughter long before one’s hand has actually touched their stomachs – laughter which has less to do with being tickled than with sharing and being together – and love.

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• The creation of brown-eyed blondes has long been regarded as one of God’s better ideas.

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• Babies, as everyone who cares for them knows, come trailing their own particular essence.

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• She had learned, during the long years of her childhood, to live without receiving love. To live without giving it seemed more than she could bear.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• England
• Brazil
• Manaus
• London
• Rio

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

List the series to which this book belongs.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Eva Ibbotson (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 823.914

Notes for Parents edit see section history

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Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Teens › Authors, A-Z › ( I ) › Ibbotson, Eva
• Books › Teens › Literature & Fiction › Love & Romance
• Books › Teens › History & Historical Fiction › Historical Fiction