Gichigami
Regular price
€21.99
A01=Lindsey Steffes
Apostle Islands
Author_Lindsey Steffes
Best new literary fiction 2024
Books set in remote towns
Books set on Lake Superior
Books with unreliable narrators
Category=FBA
Category=FFD
Category=FS
Category=FXB
Cold
coming-of-age
Coming-of-age mystery
Eerie atmospheric novel
eerie novel
eq_bestseller
eq_crime
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_modern-contemporary
eq_nobargain
Family secrets novel
Father-daughter relationship novel
Fiction about uncovering dark secrets
Great Lakes
Haunting and atmospheric storytelling
Haunting mother-daughter story
haunting novel
Literary fiction about loss
Literary fiction set in the Midwest
Literary gothic mystery
loneliness
midwest
Midwest women in fiction
mystery
Novels about longing and loss
Psychological suspense fiction
Psychological suspense in small towns
Remote island fiction
Searching for lost mother novel
Searching for the truth fiction
Secrets and betrayal books
Slow-burn eerie thriller
small town
Small-town Midwest novel
Snowy
Troubled family relationships in fiction
Winter mystery novel
Young girl protagonist books
Product details
- ISBN 9781625348500
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 04 Mar 2025
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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One December evening, when 13-year-old Marta crosses the frozen Lake Superior and reaches the home she shares with her father, she finds a woman standing at their door. As Marta approaches, she realizes the woman, who looks like a tropical bird caught in the snow, is her mother who’d abruptly left them six years before. Marta hopes this is a turning point, that her mother will stay this time—despite hating this town, this island, and their creaky, towering Victorian house. But not everyone in town is thrilled with her mother’s arrival, least of all her dad.
Almost as soon as she arrives, however, Marta’s mother abruptly vanishes again, nowhere to be found, leaving Marta with more questions than answers. Her father denies her mother was ever there and Marta is left with the mystery of her mother’s homecoming. She begins to wonder if he is lying, or if there is a deeper secret being kept from her by the entire tight-knit community. As Marta delves into her mother's sudden reappearance and subsequent disappearance, she seeks answers, visiting places that were significant to her mother and questioning people she knew. Desperate for answers that will shed light on the mystery, this quest leads her to uncover a web of secrets that threaten to unravel everything she thought she knew about her family and herself.
Gichigami is an eerie coming-of-age novel, weaving between Marta and the person desperately trying to keep Marta and her mother apart. This poignant exploration of the lives of women and girls of the Midwest shines a light on the struggles of absent mothers, runaway daughters, and those who yearn for more than life has offered them. With rich prose and vivid imagery, Lindsey Steffes spins a tale of loss, longing, and betrayal set against the backdrop of the harsh yet beautiful landscape of Lake Superior.
Almost as soon as she arrives, however, Marta’s mother abruptly vanishes again, nowhere to be found, leaving Marta with more questions than answers. Her father denies her mother was ever there and Marta is left with the mystery of her mother’s homecoming. She begins to wonder if he is lying, or if there is a deeper secret being kept from her by the entire tight-knit community. As Marta delves into her mother's sudden reappearance and subsequent disappearance, she seeks answers, visiting places that were significant to her mother and questioning people she knew. Desperate for answers that will shed light on the mystery, this quest leads her to uncover a web of secrets that threaten to unravel everything she thought she knew about her family and herself.
Gichigami is an eerie coming-of-age novel, weaving between Marta and the person desperately trying to keep Marta and her mother apart. This poignant exploration of the lives of women and girls of the Midwest shines a light on the struggles of absent mothers, runaway daughters, and those who yearn for more than life has offered them. With rich prose and vivid imagery, Lindsey Steffes spins a tale of loss, longing, and betrayal set against the backdrop of the harsh yet beautiful landscape of Lake Superior.
Lindsey Steffes’s work has been recognized by Glimmer Train and featured in Atticus Review, Black Heart Magazine, and Sad Girl Diaries. Her short story, “Gichigami,” which later became the first chapter of this novel, was published in Midwestern Gothic.
