[1][2] The Swan Book is set in a dystopian future shaped by the impacts of climate change in which Aboriginal people still live under the Intervention in the north.

The central character, Oblivia, a young Aboriginal woman, grapples with the enduring traumas of her past and establishes a unique bond with swans.

After the death of her guardian, she is thrust into the national spotlight when she marries Warren Finch, an Aboriginal man who rises to become the first Indigenous President of Australia.

The marriage is more political than personal, and Oblivia struggles to find her place in an alien and hostile world, retaining a childlike mind even as an adult.

Interweaving Aboriginal mythology, ecological motifs, and post-colonial analysis, the narrative presents an examination of Australia's environmental and societal challenges.