Adrift
A Novel
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
Evergreen Award Winner
The Strand Critics Awards Best Debut Nominee
Crime Writers of Canada Best First Novel Award Finalist
Off the storm-lashed coast of the Pacific Northwest, Ess regains consciousness with no recollection of who she is or why she’s alone on a sailboat in the wilderness. Her only clue is a chilling typewritten note—cryptic and urgent—and the instinctive knowledge of how to sail, survive, and stay invisible.
The world she sails into is at a tipping point. In 2038, climate change is pushing people to the limit, driving more and more to flee storms, drought, and rising seas. The earth is precariously balanced at a climate tipping point and Ess is perched on the edge of a choice. Haunted by the alarming clues about who she was before and hunted by forces she doesn't understand, Ess must decide whether to vanish for good or risk everything to confront the truth.
Adrift is a genre-bending blend of character-driven psychological suspense, speculative mystery, and climate fiction. It’s a novel about memory, identity, and who we become when the past is out of reach.
"Crackles with urgency and humanity...a book made to meet the moment. A must read." —Katie Lattari, author of Dark Things I Adore
“Fast-paced, riveting…a great read.” —Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of Brideau's uneven debut, a woman wakes up on a sailboat moored in a remote archipelago off the British Columbian coast. It's 2038, and she has no memory of her past, though she finds envelopes filled with cash and a pair of notes on board, one stating her name is Sarah Jane Song, and another warning, "Start over.... Don't look back." She sets sail in search of her identity, dubs herself Ess, and discovers she is among the growing number of "amnesia refugees" escaping climate disaster in the U.S. Ess tries to keep her memory loss under wraps as governments worldwide round up refugees like her and place them in camps. After a strong start, the plot stalls and Brideau's thoughts on the effects of climate change take center stage ("All these people see the crumbling infrastructure around them and realize climate change is real despite all the effort to deny it, and they finally realize it's going to get extremely shitty," one character clumsily monologues). The author shows promise, but struggles to cross the finish line.
