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Book Reviewed by:A searing original, a modern-day parable of rebirth and renewal, of maternal bonds, and the instinct to survive and thrive in the absence of all that's familiar.
As London is submerged below floodwaters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, she and her baby are forced to leave their home in search of safety. They head north through a newly dangerous country seeking refuge from place to place. The story traces fear and wonder as the baby grows, thriving and content against all the odds.
The End We Start From is an indelible and elemental first book - a lyrical vision of the strangeness and beauty of new motherhood, and a tale of endurance in the face of ungovernable change.
The End We Start From shares the shelf with other tales of war and survival. In this case the enemy is natural disaster and the quest is for a return to normal. Home will never seem the same, even if they're able to repopulate; trauma will resonate even if R and the narrator find each other after displacement. I'm not going to spoil the plot here, but much of what kept me riveted to this novel is the exquisite, poetic language. Hunter's settings, imagery, and characters conspire to deliver a cinematic, if sometimes fragmented reading experience, absent of actual dialogue. The book is longlisted for the 2018 Aspen Words Literary Prize, recommended to those who like their fiction literary and poetic with strong motherhood themes and a tender, understated love story...continued
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(Reviewed by Karen Lewis).
The End We Start From takes place during a drastic, near-future flood that impacts London and its surrounding territory. During 2017, floods surged over many regions of the world. As the plausibility of future catastrophic flooding seems more and more likely, it is fascinating to take a look at how floods figure prominently in ancient legends, from a variety of traditions. Here's a quick summary of an incredibly complex and rich heritage of their mythology.
Genesis describes the story of Noah and his ark, which takes place near modern day Mount Ararat in Anatolia (Turkey). Long before the first written record of Genesis, the Sumerians told a flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, about 2500 BCE. Torrential rain caused great flooding and ...
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The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place
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Christie Watson, author of Tiny Sunbirds Far Away
I held my breath reading this beautiful and timely novel. With precise yet lyrical language Megan Hunter gets to the centre of who we are, where we are, and why it matters. The End We Start From is a work of art.
