The Dancer and the Swan

by James L. Peters

Deborah Deneaux is dying...
…but hospice volunteer Pauline Swanson won’t let DeeDee’s story die with her.

What drove DeeDee from her beloved 1960’s New Orleans Creole neighborhood to begin anew in turbulent 1970s San Francisco? What became of her brother after he joined the Black Panthers? How did she end up a single mother in Chicago and retire as a successful business owner?

And most of all—why is her relationship with her son, Raymond, so painfully broken?

As Pauline pieces together DeeDee’s remarkable life, she’s forced to confront her own. A recovering alcoholic haunted by childhood trauma, Pauline finds strength in DeeDee’s resilience—strength she’ll need when her own past resurfaces and she’s forced to face what has haunted her dreams.

The Dancer and the Swan is at once a historical drama against the backdrop of urban renewal and social change, while also being an exploration of determination and faith against the traumas of life as experienced by two strong, unique women.

505 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2025

About the author

A life-long Wisconsinite and lover of writing, James began his career in television production and moved on to all forms of marketing and advertising, always with a writing and creative focus. When not writing professionally or creatively, he invested significant time and money along with bandmates pursuing music.

At the end of 2003, he and his wife Melanie left their careers, sold their home, and joined James’s best friend and fellow musician on a multi-year musical focus performing live across Wisconsin (for the first time in their lives in their 30s). It was during that time James wrote his first two novels, Shrugging and Turntable (the latter very loosely inspired by their musical adventures).

Having shook the music bug out of their systems, they transitioned back to careers. It wasn’t until the pandemic and doing a small run of his first two novels that he discovered people seemed to enjoy his novels, and he dove back into his one true, life-long passion.

He lives with his wife in the beautiful Chippewa Valley of Wisconsin, where he writes fiction, designs board games, and also occasionally does things to earn money.

Reviews

[Jayce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was able to be a pre reader for this book which was honestly one of my bucket list dreams, and I could not have asked for a better book to read! I loved it! I’m not the biggest fan of historical fiction but was thoroughly impressed with the characters, the storyline, and especially the writing!

[David Schaller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought my copy from the author this summer at a weekend market having no idea what to expect. It was interesting enough to keep me reading and I hadn't read a local author in a long time. I appreciated the effort put into the historical research and the list of sources at the end of the book. I did feel by the end that there were almost too many heavy subjects covered for one novel. There wasn't always a great deal of release for the tension as the narrative switched between the difficult lives of the central characters. But in all, three solid stars. Liked it.

[Mitchell Waldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was truly remarkable book, taking the reader on a most introspective ride and merging of souls, filled with tragic moments, history, as well as faith and love. There's much history here that the author makes real through his characters, including some devastating occurrences in New Orleans and San Francisco among the Black community, depriving them of their very livelihoods and lives, in some instances, in their attempts to assert their rights. The characters in the story are flawed, but strong, especially the women Pauline and Dee Dee, whose perspectives as revealed in the story, seem right on the money. I was especially in awe of this male author's ability to get into these female characters minds and develop them so fully and empathetically. In this regard, all of the characters in the book are so well drawn that you start thinking of them as family after a while and care deeply for all of them. This is a great emotional ride for those who care to hop aboard.

[Mark P · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Peters' fourth novel is by far his most ambitious, and it succeeds on almost every level. As a story of two women of differing race, age, and life experience, it gives us two fully-developed characters who are anything but stereotypes. Despite their individual flaws and traumas, their stories, thoughts, fears and determination slowly draw us in so that by the end, we care desperately about how they will end up.

As a story of pre-Hurricane Camille New Orleans, 60's San Francisco, and its nascent Black Panther movement and porn industry, his meticulous research, cited in the conclusion, enables him to paint a vivid and compelling picture of those milieux, including many minor characters taken from actual history.

Between them, the two main characters, Pauline and DeeDee, are pregnant women in crisis, a single mother, a recovering alcoholic bartender, an exotic dancer and early porn star, a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest, a college valedictorian (with a commencement speech that will blow you away), a new hospice volunteer, a marketing company CEO, and women trying to come to terms with fathers and sons. In every case, the author makes you feel that he has either lived these roles himself, or knows well persons who did.

Peters has a gift for language, and appreciates a turn of phrase, occasionally to a fault, but the purple passages outnumber the needless flourishes. And while he doesn't attempt to mimic 60's jive or a Creole accent outside of the use of "dawlin'," his characters' dialogue is believable and their emotions ring true.

In all, one of the best novels I've read in a few years. Take it to the beach if you must, but it deserves a closer reading in your personal reading nook.

[Erin Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful and very entraining. Read it in almost 1 sitting. Don't pass this book up.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a male author tries to write a female lead character or in this case two female lead characters, I approach with a bit of skepticism. James L Peters has kicked that skepticism to the curb. I felt like I was living along side of Pauline Swanson and Dee Dee Deneaux, learning about faith, social injustices and dealing with illness and death. Even the secondary characters were developed to the extent they needed. The porn industry subject was out of my comfort zone but when allowing the story to navigate my way, it enabled me to be a little more comfortable. The way he weaved his obvious research about historical 60's New Orleans and 70's San Francisco made me forget it was really 2025. The only minor issue was that when learning Pauline's story, I was impatient to get back to Dee Dee's story and vice versa but that is to be expected when balancing two story lines. I thought Dee Dee's son Raymond had an interesting arc in that he was pushed to change and grow due to his mom, daughter, ex-wife and Pauline. It makes me chuckle to think even in fiction, men need help from women. If you want to dive into a story that mixes history, religion, ethics, a little romance and social issues with wonderful character development and written in a pleasing style than this is for you. Overall, I recommend this book (James' 4th) as his best so far.

[Ann M. Noser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book about women. Yes, it was written by a man, but don't let that trouble you. If you took Fried Green Tomatoes, a book that makes its way into your heart and stays there, and take the basis of a middle aged woman building a life-changing friendship with a senior in a nursing home and move the locations to historical New Orleans and San Francisco, then add in sultry dancing and the Black Panthers and alcoholism --- to name a few of the challenges the characters face, you are just starting to get the idea of what The Dancer and The Swan is about. First off, the amount of research that must have gone into the writing of this book is impressive. Then there's the very real, very flawed and very human characters of Dee Dee and Pauline. You root for them, groaning and shaking your head when you know what they're doing isn't in their best interests, but you're on their side no matter what happens. This book touches on some very adult and at times very dark aspects of American History. More people should know about this book, it's so good. I've read other books by this author in other genres, but this is his opus. He is so good at writing women that you forget he's a male author. Perhaps it's because we are not really so different at heart.

[Bob Seay · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Peters is an exceptional writer. The Dancer and the Swan is the kind of book that makes you pause, think about what you just read, and then read it again. It unfolds as two stories: the present-tense story of Pauline, a hospice volunteer quietly wrestling with her own regrets, and the past-tense life story of DeeDee, an aging former dancer now under Pauline’s care. This alternating structure gives the book a braided feel, with each woman’s story deepening and reframing the other. This is double helix writing, with each strand supporting the other, creating a stronger story when they are mixed together.

DeeDee’s past carries sweep and cultural texture, tracing a life shaped by art, family, reinvention, and the changing world around her. Pauline’s present-day chapters are just as compelling, marked by emotional immediacy and a kind of wry self-awareness about where she’s ended up and how she got there. At the heart of the novel is the growing connection between these women.

I found myself thinking about these characters long after I put the book down — not about what happened, but about what their lives meant. This would be a great book to discuss with friends in a book club or just over the backyard fence.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peters does a wonderful job of including realistic personal struggles for his characters, and does so again with this book. The weaving together of the stories and the characters’ histories was done well, even if some things felt exaggerated or trope-y at times. I personally didn’t care for the amount of faith-based references or struggles within the book, but if that’s not a concern for other readers I don’t think it will distract from the book for them as much as it did for me. Overall, I feel Peters did a good job with his writing here, which is comforting, given my expectations after reading another of his books. Additionally, he does keep the story moving forward well.

[Melanie D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely fell in love with the characters. It was hard to put the book down because I wanted to know what happened next. Both main character's stories were captivating.