File Corruption

Emily St John Mandel's brilliant novel Station Eleven (2014) centred around a devastating pandemic and was told in a non-linear way, switching timeframes between before, during and after the world collapsed. In The Glass Hotel (2020) Mandel creatively braided timelines and stories of people impacted by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme. In her latest novel, Sea of Tranquility (2022) Mandel ups the ante. She blends characters and locations from her previous novels with new people and places, and expands the narrative across five centuries.

It begins in 1912 when Edwin St John St Andrew is exiled to Canada after embarrassing behaviour at a family dinner party. He journeys across Canada, making his way to the remote fictional town Caiette, British Columbia (the site of The Glass Hotel), where he witnesses a strange phenomenon in the woods. In amongst the trees he is overwhelmed by the sound of a violin and experiences a sense of 'a flash of darkness, like sudden blindness or an eclipse. He has an impression of being in some vast interior, something like a train station or a cathedral...'. 

This sensation has been experienced in other times and places. The music is captured on film and used in a performance by a composer in 2020. Author Olive Llewellyn has a scene like this in her bestselling novel Marienbad. She travels from her home in Moon Colony Two to Earth on a book tour in 2203 when a pandemic breaks out. Later, in 2401, Time Institute Detective Gaspery-Jacques Roberts is sent back and forth in time to discover the source and make sense of this phenomenon.

It is hard to explain this novel to those unfamiliar with Mandel's work - its a kind of science/speculative/ literary fiction that defies pigeon-holing. You don't need to have read her previous novels to enjoy Sea of Tranquility. However, as a fan of her work I gained such pleasure from revisiting familiar characters and locations. It is a joy to marvel at the brilliance of the Mandel Universe. 

Mandel's prose is beautifully poetic and there is something hopeful in the way she explores themes of colonisation, climate change and pandemics. People endure dark days and remain resilient in the face of the difficult and unknown. While I loved her previous novels, Mandel has matured as an author and in Sea of Tranquility she has perfected her craft. The way in which the novel builds to its climax, bringing the story lines together, is brilliant and surprising. 

My reviews of Emily St John Mandel's previous novels  Station Eleven (2014) and The Glass Hotel (2020) are also available on this blog.