Christopher Swann Books In Order

Publication Order of Faulkner Family Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Christopher Swann is a bestselling author of thriller and mystery fiction novels that is best known for his debut novel “Shadow of the Lions.”

As a child, Swann grew up in Virginia and attended Woodberry Forest School. After graduating from high school, he went to Washington and Lee University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in English.
He would then proceed to the University of Missouri-Columbia for his master’s degree in creative writing and English, then to Georgia State University for his doctorate in creative writing.

After publishing his debut and it became a bestselling work, he got the confidence he needed and kicked on from there. He now has several works in his name across at least a series and several single-standing titles.

For his work, the author has won several prestigious awards over the years. He made the final shortlist for the Townsend Prize, the Georgia Author of the Year award, and “Shadow of the Lions,” his debut novel made the longlist for the Southern Book Prize.

Swann currently makes his home in Atlanta where he lives with his wife and two children. He still works a day job at the Holly Innocents’ Episcopal School, where he chairs the English department.

Swann remembers being a huge geek when he first arrived for high school at Woodberry. Because he believed it was apparent to everyone at the school, he was afraid that he would be very lonely and would not make any friends.

But he turned out to be a very curious student who loved learning which meant he did very well in his studies. He also managed to make many friends even as a dorky and shy 14-year-old kid.

For Christopher Swann boarding school was incredibly freeing and not the elite prisons and dumping grounds most people believe them to be.

He was fortunate enough to have access to incredible mentors and teachers who set him on the path to becoming successful in life.

While the boarding school environment often felt isolating and very contained, it is what made him into who he is today.

While school is definitely not the only aspect that is responsible for who he is, it allowed and even encouraged him to develop and grow as an adolescent male and student.

He believes this would not have been possible had he attended a regular school as opposed to a boarding school.

Christopher Swann currently makes use of his experience in boarding school and as the chair of the English department at high school to pen his novels.

In fact, he has taken some parts of his experiences in Woodberry to write the settings and some of the characters in the fictional school Blackburne in his debut novel.

As the chair of the English department, he has been privileged enough to work with outstanding teachers and also many who make mistakes in their work. He also draws from this in the making of teachers that populate his works.

One good example of this is Matthias Glass, the movie teacher who makes a lot of mistakes but shows a lot of promise.

Christopher Swann’s novel “Never Turn Back” introduces Ethan Faulkner.

He is a child that developed abilities very early on but still has to deal with a troublesome but brilliant sister, a wary mother that has to manage a complex family, and a war veteran for a father.
Things get interesting when a strange woman knocks on their door one night fleeing from two men one of whom barges into the house. In the ensuing struggle, Ethan’s parents are killed leaving him an orphan.
Several years later, Ethan has become a successful teacher and has a budding relationship with Marisa a coworker. But he never took care of his sister as he had promised his dying father.

Sussanah can be a handful and keeping tabs on her is difficult. Moreover, Ethan has a grudge against her as she prevented him from getting to his father just before his death on that fateful night.

While he wants to put the past behind him, Marisa seems very interested in discussing it. Things become even more complicated when there is a brutal murder and all evidence shows that Ethan is responsible.
Ethan has no choice but to trawl through the memories of the past if he is to get out of his past predicament.

“Never Go Home” by Christopher Swann tells the story of Susannah Faulkner, a woman that has had her character forged in raging fires from her past.

A home invasion when she was ten had left her an orphan and this had resulted in Susannah growing up stubborn and wild. She now takes pride in kicking anyone who deserves it as she lives a violent and dangerous life.

Still, she remains determined to bring something of value to the world as a legacy to her parents. When she is informed that Ethan her brother needs her help, she heads back to Atlanta, only to stumble into Gavin her uncle in the throes of a heart attack.

In a cryptic message, he whispers in her ear Peaches before he is whisked to the hospital. It is a puzzling message but she needs to help Ethan, who seems to be in a lot of trouble.

An ex-convict who also happens to be an ex-soldier claims that he served with their father in the Middle East. Allegedly they had stolen millions of dollars in cash together but the money has gone missing and now Finnis demanding his share or else….

Christopher Swann’s novel “Shadow of the Lions” is the story of Matthias who is wondering how long he will have to pay for the crimes of his youth.

It has been almost a decade since he graduated from Blackburne School, an elite establishment, where Fritz his best friend had fled into the forest never to be seen or heard from again.

His friend had gone missing following an argument they had after Matthias broke the honor code of their school. Matthias has always been haunted by the events of that night.

Several years later, he had become a successful author then fell hard and considered himself a failure as a person, boyfriend, and author.

When Blackburne his former school offers him a position as an English teacher, he sees it as a chance to get his life back on track.

But once he is back, he gets dragged right into the past and is driven by a desire to find out what happened to his best friend.

He works with a curmudgeonly retired police officer and tries to investigate the case even as he deals with the shocking death of a student, campus politics, his own place at Blackburne, and the powerful but very complicated family of Fritz his friend.