Product details
- ISBN 9781936097524
- Dimensions: 139 x 215mm
- Publication Date: 08 Oct 2024
- Publisher: Cameron & Company Inc
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Undercurrents, the debut novel from fourth-generation Montanan, Joan Maki, steps through forest doorways and crosses rivers into twilight’s thresholds to dissect the emotional and psychological aftermath of Kit in the wake of the mysterious disappearance of Patrick, a childhood friend who vanished so suddenly it was as if he fell into the Earth. Decades after this incident, Kit escapes her rural Montana upbringing for a new life in the city, but her disjointed memories and the questions she has had to carry bind her to her past. Was Patrick claimed by natural forces, falling into the river or a ravine? Was his estranged father involved? Or, as old Marg believes, was the boy claimed by the people of the forest? Will Kit be able to find closure as she raises her own child and is inevitably drawn back toward the woods of home?
Imbued with elements of Finnish folklore, Undercurrents charts the liminal destruction of society and self, where wild and rural places are encroached upon by more contemporary forces. Like a story written on a warped mirror, Undercurrents presents a calm surface slightly askew, and definitely dangerous, where mind, lore, religion, and reality collide in uncanny reflections.
Joan Maki grew up on the farm acquired by her Finnish great-grandparents, stoking a deep affinity for open fields, pitch-black nights, and folklore. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Montana in Missoula, and lives in western Montana with her family. Undercurrents is her first novel.
