Synopses & Reviews
In this riveting narrative of family and middle-age angst, Esi Edugyan gives us Aster, an all-white suburban enclave. Far removed from the frenzied ways of city life, this small town at first seems an idyllic place to hide away, a place for a man like Samuel Tyne—an African immigrant caught in an impassive marriage, nursing a tenuous connection to his twin daughters, and harboring a growing hatred for his government job—to escape to. When his uncle Jacob suddenly dies, leaving him a rural estate, Samuel promptly packs up his reluctant family, and moves them to his uncle's crumbling mansion. But Samuel soon discovers that Aster is not the haven he had wished for. In fact, there's a strangeness to the town only to be outdone by the strangeness of his own daughters, who are particularly affected by the town's odd goings-on, including a number of mysterious fires. In short order, the new life Samuel Tyne envisioned for himself begins to disintegrate as a dark current of menace is turned upon his family.
Already a book-club favorite, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne is a foreboding and mesmeric read from a welcome and dazzling new voice.
Review
“Simultaneously sweeping and intimate, brutal and tender, high-spirited and desolate.” Baltimore Sun
Review
“In this brilliantly written debut novel, Edugyan flawlessly creates and maintains a pervasive sense of hope loneliness, foreboding and futility.” Black Issues Book Review
Review
“An elegant first novel.” Chicago Tribune
Review
“Written with an assured hand, Edugyans graceful narrative belies the underlying menace that permeates her story.” The Seattle Skanner
Review
“Edugyans language is supple, wry and at turns sensuous. This intricately worked narrative heralds an excellent new voice” Chris Abani, author of GraceLand
Review
“Fine writing...engaging first work, reminiscent of early VS Naipaul.” The Guardian
Review
“Its hard to believe its a first novel...Competent storytelling abilities and deft use of language....A well written book.” Los Angeles Times
Review
“A provocative thriller.” Essence
Review
“A beautifully rendered and haunting look at personal longing and family obligations.” Booklist
Review
“Both familiar and exotic, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne is...a moving and brilliant novel.” David Adams Richards, author of Mercy Among the Children
Synopsis
The first novel from the acclaimed author of Washington Black--an exploration of explores the sweep of history, the binds of blood, the challenges of middle age, and the pain of exile, witnessed through the experiences of one family whose hope blinds them to threatening forces that could tear them apart.
It is 1968 and Samuel Tyne has lived in exile in the chaotic New World for more than a dozen years. Born in Ghana, educated at Oxford, Samuel was expected to accomplish great things. But the middling government employee fears he has fallen short of that promise. When he inherits a crumbling mansion in the small, provincial town of Aster, Canada, he packs up his protesting family, believing that he has been offered a fabled second chance--and this time, he will not fail.
An all-white enclave that was originally settled by freed slaves and runaways from America, the idyllic Aster feels like a miracle. But as time passes, Samuel begins to see the town is not the haven he hoped: riven by political infighting, a community resistant to change, and most disturbing, a number of mysterious fires that have put the townsfolk on edge. His family, too, begins to splinter. Stubbornly clinging to his ambitious dreams, Samuel finds the successful life he's struggled to build is disintegrating around him, and a dark current of menace in the town is turned upon his family--that they may be too powerless to fight.
About the Author
A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Victoria, Esi Edugyan was raised in Calgary. She recently completed a fiction fellowhsip at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Previous work has appeared in Best New American Voices 2003, edited by Joyce Carol Oates. She lives in Victoria, Canada.