It’s no surprise that in her funny, new fourth novel, Oakland writer Renee Swindle continues to write lovingly about her characters and their foibles.
In “Francine’s Spectacular Crash and Burn” (Tiny Reparations Books, 320 pages, $19, April 15, 2025), Swindle introduces the funny yet messed-up Francine Stephenson, reeling from the death of her charismatic but needy mother. While searching to redefine herself, Francine encounters the bullied 10-year-old Davie, a supersmart, tell-it-like-it-is neurodivergent thinker who speaks his mind. As Francine shields Davie from the bullies, their relationship grows, allowing her to reexamine who has helped her along in her life—and who hasn’t.
When she sat down to write the book, Swindle—who launches the novel on April 15 at A Great Good Place for Books in Oakland — says a scene kept playing over and over in her head. “I was walking my dogs by Pixar like I usually do, and I saw this woman in a car with a little kid, stalking this guy. And I started playing around with that: Why was she doing this? Why would someone do this?”
Swindle, whose previous books include “Please Please Please,” “Shake Down the Stars” and “A Pinch of Ooh La La,” decided to focus on the woman and her relationship with her mother: “Her mother is agoraphobic and a psychic, and that set everything off, like boom.”
Plenty of novels feature young children, but not like the oddly mannered but lovable Davie. With his blunt delivery and tragic background, he bursts onto the scene and forces Francine to deal with her life—and his. “His voice just came,” says Swindle. “He appeared with the bullies chasing him, and he stayed, and he was the easiest character to write.”
Davie is a neurodiverse thinker and way ahead of his grade level—and proud to tell you about it. He’s also a foster child who has suffered abuse. “I was concerned because he’s not based on anyone and wondered, Am I getting it right?” Swindle says Penguin Books hired a neurodivergent reader who gave her a thumbs up on the character’s accuracy. Davie brings realness and depth to both Francine’s life and the novel, as she can’t seem to shake him—then realizes she doesn’t want to.
This isn’t Swindle’s first time setting her work in Oakland and the Bay Area. The author finds much to mine, shining a light on the great and not-so-great parts. “It’s so important to me because I rarely read books set in the East Bay,” she says. “There’s so much here.”
“I love playing with class,” Swindle continues. “And I mean— Oakland. No other setting helps deal with class issues as much as this area. So, it’s a no-brainer for me,” she says.
Swindle, who holds a master’s of fine arts degree in creative writing from San Diego State University and teaches English courses at Diablo Valley College, pictured Francine’s home as one in her own neighborhood: “There’s a street that’s within walking distance from my house that gave me the image of what her house would be like.” She did the same for Francine’s friend and nemesis, Jeanette, who lives nearby but in a rundown area, revealing the class differences so relevant to our area: “Because it’s very true that if you drive literally five minutes away, the buildings become dilapidated. It’s just five minutes,” Swindle says.
When it comes to her own to-be-read pile, what does Renee Swindle look for when she picks up a book? “I want a story,” she says. She admits there was a time, maybe in graduate school, when she was interested in “just the language and the meta this, and let’s deconstruct that.” Now, she feels “life’s too short—give me a story.” She says she’s happy reading commercial fiction and “a nice rom-com.”
“I mean, some of my favorite books have been ‘Heartstopper’ and ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ And I love books that are being made into films because that usually indicates there’s going to be a story,” Swindle says.
Which brings us back to her books. “That’s the way I write. I want to give the reader a story. I want to give the reader something where they can have a snack and a good read.”
Renee Swindle appears at 7 p.m. April 15 at A Great Good Place for Books, 6120 La Salle Ave., Oakland. Visit ggbooks.com or reneeswindlebooks.com.
Linda Lenhoff is a Bay Area writer and editor. Her comedic novel “Your Actual Life May Vary” comes out in August from Santa Fe Writers Project.
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