Darwin's Wink: A Novel of Nature and Love [Hardcover]

Alison Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2004

"A love story, a war story, an ecological adventure, a biological poem, and a treatise on the fragility of life--Darwin's Wink has it all. The writing is so incantory that it almost floats off the page. In Fran, Alison Anderson has created a strong, flawed, and utterly believable heroine.... Like the elusive, bejeweled mourning bird it celebrates, this book will waken its
readers to unexpected wonders. A beautiful book. I loved it."
- Molly Giles, author of Iron Shoes

The author of the critically acclaimed Amelia Earhart novel Hidden Latitudes offers a beautifully crafted story about two naturalists, both damaged by ghosts from the past, who find love as they work to save a rare bird species off the coast of Mauritius--and fend off a powerful townsman who is threatened by their presence.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Two lonely hearts try to protect an endangered species of bird and the paradisiacal island on which they live from mysterious agents of destruction in Anderson's dreamy, lushly written second novel (after 1996's Hidden Latitudes). Christian, a disenchanted, 30-something Swiss man haunted by his experiences as a Red Cross worker in Bosnia, comes to Egret Island, "a short green poem of a place" off the coast of Mauritius, to work for Fran, a middle-aged, outwardly brusque American naturalist seeking to restore the island to its original, untouched state and the endangered mourner-bird to its previous strength. Like Christian, who left behind a pregnant lover, Fran has also loved and lost; she tries to confine herself to a cerebral approach to work and life, blunting her sexual frissons and painful flashbacks through Darwinian logic. But as an unseen menace stalks the island, seeking to destroy both the birds and their caretakers, Fran and Christian are propelled toward romantic union—a well-worn conceit given some resonance by the novel's governing idiom of biology, instinct and the odd "stochastic factor, or... Darwin's wink": the nonsensical gap in biological progress that throws predictability off course. Readers will find the plot distantly secondary to the novel's rich emotional palette, as Anderson captures the expansive beauty of Mauritius and the nuances of human character with languid, sensual and occasionally violet prose.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In an elegiac and haunting tale of healing and survival, two emotionally wounded biologists find solace in each other as they struggle to save a rare bird from the brink of extinction. Situated just off the coast of Mauritius, Egret Island is a fragile environment. Within the refuge provided by its primitive conditions, Fran, an American naturalist, and Christian, her Swiss assistant, withdraw to atone for losses in which they unwittingly played a part. For Fran it was the death, perhaps murder, of her lover and previous assistant, while Christian copes with the loss of the woman he loved while working for the Red Cross in war-torn Bosnia. As tortured as they are by their pasts, however, they must also confront a sinister future as the island's inhabitants, and nature, conspire to destroy everything they are trying to protect. Luminously written, with a hypnotic sensuality that fairly shimmers, Anderson's deeply affecting tale of the beauty and brutality of nature pits the forces of evolution against the fragility of emotion. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (October 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312331991
• ISBN-13: 978-0312331993
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,891,300 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Exotic, December 19, 2004

By 

Deborah Straw "author" (Burlington, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darwin's Wink: A Novel of Nature and Love (Hardcover)

This is a lovely, unusual novel. The writing is lush, the setting and characters complex, and the protagonist's work important. The ending seems quite realistic. For anyone, especially one who cares for endangered species and is drawn to the mystery of islands, this novel should hold one's interest straight through. Beautiful and imaginative.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly surprising and pleasurable gem of a novel, December 7, 2004

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darwin's Wink: A Novel of Nature and Love (Hardcover)

Occasionally, a book comes along that truly surprises you. Initially, the exquisite cover art on DARWIN'S WINK drew me to it. Then a particularly enticing description of the plot hooked me even further. But just a few words into it, I was blissfully lost to the story. Alison Anderson choreographed this novel with poetic sentences. It overflows with thought-provoking passages and fresh, stimulating ideas. The flyleaf says this book is a novel of nature and love. I would add that it is also a novel of beauty and happiness --- and of sorrow and strength.

Fran, a divorced American naturalist on the down side of 40, struggles to keep the mourner bird population from extinction. The fragile existence on Egret Island, a mere half-mile off the coast of posh Mauritius, constantly challenges Fran's abilities. Her assistant, a man she cared too much for, met with a mysterious accident. Now, a young displaced Red Cross worker, Christian, has arrived to help in her conservation efforts. He comes hoping to heal the scars left by a horrific parting with a Serbian woman he once loved. War tore her from him, and now he works to find a way to forget, to find a way to go on.

Fran is working to heal her scars as well. She may be as much in danger of extinction as the bird she has pledged to protect. Despite a deceptive crusty exterior, she is soft inside. She opens her heart too easily, and it is broken too often. The things she loves frequently go away, leaving her with only bittersweet memories. But she does have memories, and she cherishes them, bringing them out at dusk to relive the joy they once brought her.

While these two souls are trying to find their own peace, at least one person is trying to drive them from the island. And their tactics are anything but gentle. Unfortunately --- for them --- they don't realize the dedication they are up against. Fran fervently believes in her work. "She accepts the inevitability of death but refuses the inevitability of extinction." Thus, she will fight with a fierce determination to combat island predators --- whether they be of the four-legged or the two-legged variety. And Christian discovers that he is afflicted with her passion.

Prepare to spend some time with this gem. It is not meant to be rushed through, not with writing this good. A lot is packed into its 272 pages. And, once you reach the end, I believe you will instantly want to start over again, just to have the pleasure of savoring the words anew.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "An enchanted error...", October 16, 2005

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darwin's Wink: A Novel of Nature and Love (Hardcover)

Off the coast of Mauritius is a coral reef, Egret Island, twenty-five hectares of tropical vegetation. Following the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British, even the egrets vanish from this beleaguered place. Fran, a trained naturalist, comes to Egret Island via an independent foundation, her mission to return the island to its pre-human state, replacing plant and animal life, "the exotic with the endemic", restoring the natural habitat and possibly saving the mourner bird from extinction. The fiftyish woman is joined by a younger man, Christian, a Swiss by birth. Deeply scarred by his experiences with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Bosnia, Christian is seeking refuge from the harsh reality of war, "a bloody game of bullies and warlords, a slaughter."

Fran carries her own heartbreak, a love affair with Satish, a younger Tamil immigrant from India who knew the island well, his death still a potent grief. Christian's arrival has awakened Fran's feelings, his romance with a local girl a reminder that Satish is gone, as if Fran's relationship was only an island tale. Socially unacceptable, Fran and Satish's love was something they chose, accepting the challenges of such an affair. At this point in her life, Fran has crossed an invisible line, accepted solitude as a way of life, made stronger within the boundaries of self. Fran finds comfort in her position, having never mastered flirtatious games, removed from island society, safe from the entanglements that expose her vulnerabilities. Watching Christian in Satish's place, Fran hopes that their daily routines will offer this man an opportunity to recover, to regain his balance in the world. Drawn closer by the defining experiences of their lives, Fran and Christian share their stories. Writing in her journal, Fran realizes that anything can be changed in nature, an act of God, Darwin's wink: "What will I do now... my ordered little world is only an illusion of order, thwarted by biology."

Fran is a complex person, having weighed her loneliness and made peace with it, yet allowing herself to embrace Satish, and later, Christian. The years have given her a natural wisdom and compassion, withholding her own needs so that those of others can be met. She offers Christian the freedom to make choices without resorting to trickery or dishonesty. Even Christian realizes that this place and this woman are temporary, a brief respite before he reenters a brutal world with unfinished obligations. Yet Christian is acutely aware of Fran's strength, her unconditional acceptance of what life offers, even if happiness only comes in small measures. Anderson evokes a time and place made real and tactile by the species clinging to life and the wounded humans reaching to each other for comfort. The characters inhabit the novel, Fran, Christian, Asmita, the devious Razel, the lost Nermina and the ghost of Satish. Here passion blooms without interference, but the world waits; this temporary solace belongs to the moment, where old wrongs may be made right, nature tilted gently into balance, Fran and Christian planting the seeds of the future. Luan Gaines/ 2005.