The Swells

Summary

In this darkly hilarious satire by the inimitable Will Aitken, class war erupts aboard a luxury cruise ship.

A boatload of white privilege, the Emerald Tranquility is the most luxurious cruise liner afloat, its passengers some of the richest people in the world. Meanwhile the ship’s crew, overworked and underpaid, live packed tightly together in airless below-deck cabins.

Briony, globetrotting luxury travel writer, emulates the rich—though homeless and penniless herself—as she hops from gig to all-expenses-paid gig.

The passengers encounter a great number of cataclysms at sea, but no matter the catastrophe, the great ship always sails on.

On her own personal voyage, Briony encounters Mrs. Moore, an enigmatic old woman clandestinely fomenting a mutiny on this bountiful ship. With the captain overthrown, roles quickly reverse: the crew become the ship’s new leisure class and the aged passengers learn how to mop floors and scrub toilets.

Briony, confused and terrified by the resultant chaos, must decide which lot to cast her fate with, in this savage satire of the way we live now.