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Vendor
Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
Original language
English

MARROW ISLAND

Alexis M. Smith

A new novel from a former bookseller, author of the acclaimed Glaciers, tracks a young woman's return home to investigate a secretive community that has mysteriously rescued an island devastated by natural and chemical disaster — and taken hold of one of her oldest friends.

Twenty years ago Lucie Bowen left Marrow Island; along with her mother, she fled the aftermath of an earthquake that compromised the local refinery, killing her father and ravaging the island's environment. Now, Lucie's childhood friend Kate is living within a mysterious group called Marrow Colony — a community that claims to be “ministering to the Earth.” There have been remarkable changes to the land at the colony's homestead. Lucie's experience as a journalist tells her there's more to Marrow Colony — and their charismatic leader — than they want her to know, and that the astonishing success of their environmental remediation has come at great cost to the colonists themselves. As she uncovers their secrets and methods, will Lucie endanger more than their mission? What price will she pay for the truth?

In the company of Station Eleven and California, Marrow Island uses two tense natural disasters to ask tough questions about our choices — large and small. A second novel from a bookseller whose sleeper-hit debut was praised by Karen Russell as “haunted, joyful, beautiful,” it promises to capture and captivate new readers even as it thrills Smith's many existing fans.

Alexis M. Smith was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She attended Mount Holyoke College, Portland State University, and Goddard College. Her debut novel, Glaciers, was a finalist for the Ken Kesey Award and a selection for World Book Night 2013. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her son.
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Book

Published 2016-06-01 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Comments

A stunning novel about sacrifice for the sake of survival in the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters...In graceful and dolorous prose, she captures a dense and dramatic landscape, evoking questions of what it means to harm -- ourselves, our surroundings -- and to heal. Engrossing eco-fiction, eerie and earnest.

Wrenching and limpidly written...Smith is excellent at showing the terrible things people can do for the sake of their ideals...A near-perfect read.

Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel. – Edan Lepucki, author of California

[Marrow Island] is weird and glorious and I loved it. Different from Glaciers, but still wonderful. Marrow Island is about a journalist who returns to her home island to possibly report on a sketchy environmental colony that has set up residence on the island, and to visit her childhood best friend, who is one of the colony's residents. (Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2016)

...excellent sophomore effort ... a thoroughly eerie reading experience capped off with a startling conclusion. (starred, boxed review)

Smith marries haunting, lyrical prose with the page-­-turning urgency of a thriller. Warnings of the environmental and geological disasters that threaten us are woven seamlessly into a beautifully crafted story of loss, love, and rebuilding. A gorgeous, compelling novel. – Cari Luna, author of The Revolution of Every Day