Synopses & Reviews
Bethel, Alaska -- a small community in a stark landscape where a powerful and richly textured story spins together, one voice at a time. It is the late 1960s as beaten teenaged Dove Alexie sits in prison. One day, Dove suddenly vanishes, and there is nothing in the prison records to mark his arrival or departure. Out of the tundra, four young people step forward with their stories:
Lorraine Hobbs, a precocious loner who brings meals to the prison; Annette Weinland, the local minister's daughter, who volunteers at the prison;
Thelma Cooke and Edgar Kwagley, two Yup'ik adolescents orphaned and displaced from their native communities.
At the core of each narration is Dove -- and the mystery of his disappearance.Like planets in the solar system, these four young people travel in separate orbits with an unseen companion, Dove. Denise Gosliner Orenstein's masterpiece of intertwining voices captures the complexities of human existence with humor and insight.
Synopsis
In 1970, in Bethel, a small frontier town in Alaska, four teens grapple with the mysterious disappearance of Dove Alexie, who has been beaten and put in the town's jail. The story is told through their four distinct voices: Lorraine, a spunky original; Annette, the minister's daughter; Thelma, who becomes pregnant after having sex with the school guidance counselor; and Edgar, who drinks to forget the harshness of his life. Their voices form a narrative that circles around the existence of Dove Alexie, their unseen companion, a symbol of spirituality and courage. Told with brilliant insight and humor, Denise Gosliner Orenstein's stunning novel is about frontiers--physical, personal, and metaphorical--and about finding one's place in the universe.
About the Author
Denise Gosliner Orenstein is a faculty member of the Literature Department at American University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her two daughters. Unseen Companion is based on her experience living and teaching in fourteen Alaskan bush villages. This is her second novel.