Staff Pick
My goodness, this book. Set aside any misgivings you might have about reading a pandemic novel during a pandemic. These gracefully interconnected narratives have their roots in familiar territory, but their branches arc and sprawl beyond the world we know into the far reaches of Sequoia Nagamatsu’s imagination. The result is an immersive, tender, life-affirming book that left me both wonderstruck and — much to my surprise — comforted. Recommended By Tove H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Moving and thought-provoking…offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits. — New York Times Book Review
Haunting and luminous, How High We Go in the Dark orchestrates its multitude of memorable voices into beautiful and lucid science fiction. An astonishing debut. — Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta
Recommended by New York Times Book Review - Los Angeles Times - NPR - Entertainment Weekly - Esquire - Good Housekeeping - NBC News - Buzzfeed - Business Insider - Bustle - Goodreads - The Millions - The Philadelphia Inquirer - Minneapolis Star-Tribune - San Francisco Chronicle - The Guardian - PopSugar - Literary Hub - and many more!
For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague — a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.
Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects — a pig — develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.
From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.
Epic…Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark. — Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape…This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future. — Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here
Review
"Rich in scope and vision, with each nested story masterfully rippling across others, this is a visionary novel about grief, resilience, and how the human spirit endures." Esquire
Review
“Nagamatsu's novel isn't about hope, but about how things change in the space between possible and impossible. Of course the one thing that never changes, even or especially in tragic times, is human nature.” Los Angeles Times
Review
“[A] searing literary dystopia…It feels like an archive of personal stories about what the future may bring.” Buzzfeed News, 23 New Fantasy And Science Fiction Books We're Excited About
Review
“How High We Go in the Dark is a book of sorrow for the destruction we're bringing on ourselves. Yet the novel reminds us there's still hope in human connections.” New York Times Book Review
Synopsis
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Moving and thought-provoking . . . offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits. -- New York Times Book Review
Haunting and luminous, How High We Go in the Dark orchestrates its multitude of memorable voices into beautiful and lucid science fiction. An astonishing debut. -- Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta
Recommended by New York Times Book Review - Los Angeles Times - NPR - Entertainment Weekly - Esquire - Good Housekeeping - NBC News - Buzzfeed - Business Insider - Bustle - Goodreads - The Millions - The Philadelphia Inquirer - Minneapolis Star-Tribune - San Francisco Chronicle - The Guardian - PopSugar - Literary Hub - and many more
For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague--a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.
Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects--a pig--develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.
From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.
Epic . . . Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark. -- Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape. . . . This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future. -- Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here
Synopsis
NATIONAL BESTSELLER - NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE - ROXANE GAY'S AUDACIOUS BOOK CLUB PICK
Moving and thought-provoking . . . offering psychological insights in lyrical prose while seriously exploring speculative conceits. -- New York Times Book Review
Haunting and luminous . . . Beautiful and lucid science fiction. An astonishing debut. -- Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta
Recommended by New York Times Book Review - Los Angeles Times - NPR - Entertainment Weekly - Esquire - Good Housekeeping - NBC News - Buzzfeed - Business Insider - Bustle - Goodreads - The Millions - The Philadelphia Inquirer - Minneapolis Star-Tribune - San Francisco Chronicle - The Guardian - PopSugar - Literary Hub - and many more
For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague--a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.
In 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika Crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.
Once unleashed, the Arctic plague will reshape life on Earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects--a pig--develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet.
From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resilience of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe.
Epic . . . Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark. -- Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists
Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape. . . . This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future. -- Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here
About the Author
Sequoia Nagamatsu is a Japanese-American writer and managing editor of Psychopomp Magazine, an online quarterly dedicated to innovative prose. Originally from Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay Area, he holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Southern Illinois University and a BA in Anthropology from Grinnell College. His work has appeared in such publications as Conjunctions, The Southern Review, ZYZZYVA, Fairy Tale Review, and Tin House. He is the author of the award-winning short story collection Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone and teaches creative writing at St. Olaf College and the Rainier Writing Workshop Low-Residency MFA program. He currently lives in Minnesota with his wife, cat, and a robot dog named Calvino.