Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"Deeply satisfying. Finn is a remarkably confident and supple storyteller. The Gloaming] deserves major attention."
John Williams, New York Times
"In this richly textured, intricately plotted novel, Finn] assures us that heartbreak has the same shape everywhere. The Gloaming is chillingly cinematic in contrasting East Africa s exquisite landscape with the region s human needs. Yet even in a malevolent setting, Finn shows us acts of selflessness and redemption. Her fascination with the duality of Africa the most honest place on earth shines fiercely."
Lisa Zeidner, New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
"A propulsive literary thriller. Finn, who writes with a psychological acuity that rivals Patricia Highsmith's, switches between Europe and Africa in tense alternating chapters, rewarding close attention. The book is terrific... subtle and thrilling. Remarkably well-paced and well-written... Don't expect to be able to set this book down or forget its haunted characters."
Kirkus Reviews, starred
"Intense, impressive."
The Guardian
"I rarely get as invested in the outcome of a novel as I did reading The Gloaming, but the empathies that Finn evokes in this powerful and unpredictable book are not casual; these traumas could be our own. Finn's] prose is hypnotic and knife-precise and at times so beautiful it's unnerving. I didn't read this book so much as I experienced it and it will haunt me for a very, very long time."
Jill Alexander Essbaum, New York Timesbestselling author of Hausfrau
Pilgrim's husband left her for another woman, stranding her in a Swiss town where she is involved in an accident that leaves three children dead. Cleared of responsibility though overcome with guilt, she absconds to Africa, befriending a series of locals each with their own tragic past.
Mysteriously, the remains of an albino appear, spooking everyonesign of a curse placed by a witch doctorthough its intended recipient is uncertain. Pilgrim volunteers to rid the town of the box and its contents, though wherever she goes, she can't shake the feeling that she's being followed.
Melanie Finn was born and raised in Kenya until age eleven, when she moved with her family to Connecticut. She is the author of the novel Away From You and wrote DisneyNature's beautiful, haunting flamingo epic The Crimson Wing, which was directed by her husband, filmmaker Matt Aeberhard. During the filming, Melanie established The Natron Healthcare Project, and now lives in Vermont with Matt and their twin daughters.
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Synopsis
* New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2016.
* The Guardian's "Not the Booker Prize" Shortlist.
* Vermont Book Award finalist.
* Publishers Weekly 's "Big Indie Books of Fall 2016"
"Deeply satisfying. Finn is a remarkably confident and supple storyteller. The Gloaming] deserves major attention." --John Williams, New York Times/p>
In rich, compelling prose, Melanie Finn perfectly captures a world of consequences, and the characters who must survive them. Pilgrim Jones' husband has just left her for another woman, stranding her in a small Swiss town where she is one day involved in a tragic car accident that leaves 3 school-children dead. Cleared of responsibility though overcome with guilt, she alights for Africa, where she befriends a series of locals each with their own tragic past, each isolated in their own private way in the remote Tanzanian outpost.
Mysteriously, the remains of an albino African appear packaged in a box, spooking everyone--sign of a curse placed by a witch doctor--though its intended recipient is uncertain. Pilgrim volunteers to rid the town of the box and its contents, though wherever she goes, she can't shake the feeling that she's being followed.
The Gloaming is a thrilling, haunting new work of guilt, atonement, and finally, hope.
"A psychologically astute thriller that belongs on the shelf with the work of Patricia Highsmith. Alternating chapters between two continents, the book is brilliant on the pervasiveness of corruption and the murkiness of human motivation. Here is a page-turner that leaves its reader wiser." --Karen R. Long, Newsday