Spindrifts

by A-M Mawhiney

Overview

Racism, climate change, and violence are in the past. The new world values respect and collaboration with others. But are there secrets lurking in the shadows of the Land of Hope? What truth about the past is being covered up?

When fifteen-year-old Fania returns from Immersion, she is shattered to learn that the next phase of her education is at home with Alicia, her granny. She had hoped for something far grander that would prepare her for an important role with the Earth Project. Their two strong personalities clash as Fania begins to learn more about the past and her family's role in it.

As Fania grows in confidence and power, she starts to wonder exactly what secrets Alicia is keeping in her underground lab. After Fania discovers the truth, she finds her calling: one that has the power to change everything.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781039109667
Publisher:	FriesenPress
Publication date:	11/15/2021
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.65(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

A-M Mawhiney was deeply moved by the events of 2020 and the cries from advocates fighting for equity and justice for people living precarious lives because of structural barriers and discrimination. As a former social worker and academic she has spent her career seeking ways to improve lives of marginalized learners through inclusive education for all students. Mawhiney has hope for a better future for us all. Her vision of what this might look like inspired her to write Spindrifts.

Anne-Marie lives in Sudbury, Ontario, in the territory of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek in the Robinson-Huron Treaty Area, with Dave McGill and their canine companion, Charlie.

Editorial Reviews

2021-10-07
In Mawhiney’s SF debut, an Earth on the road to ecological recovery relies on the burgeoning powers of a teenage girl.

Fifty years into the future, Earth has been pulled back from the brink of ecological disaster. This is largely thanks to the Earth Project (a reclamation initiative using advanced technology) and inclusive but ruralizing post-plague societal reforms. This new way of life is exemplified in Land of Hope, a four-generational farmstead that began as a pilot project and has become the epicenter of change. Fifteen-year-old Fania and her 12-year-old sister, Nuna, are the youngest members of a matriarchal family headed by their great-grandmother Alicia, who, along with her husband, Nide, initiated the Earth Project. Fania has just returned from her Immersion—two years of isolated study during which 13-year-olds hone their aptitudes and determine their strengths. Unlike her peers (and Nuna, who exhibits a prodigious musical talent), Fania doesn’t know what her contribution will be. Her potential is too great to pin down. She is apprenticed to Alicia to learn more about her family history…and the dark secrets that underlie the Earth Project. Will Fania come to heal the past and safeguard the future? Mawhiney employs an omniscient narrative viewpoint across four generations of characters. These initially prove difficult to distinguish from one another, and some of the shifts occur with little indication. Nonetheless, distinct personalities emerge—most obviously in Fania, Nuna, and Alicia but also, more subtly, in the rest of the family. While not without foibles, the characters are all uniformly good, perhaps to a fault, and also gifted in some way. The lack of traditional antagonist or crisis, however, lends a bleak mood to the novel’s more challenging, dystopian elements. Rather than focus on conflict, though, the plot and pacing reflect Fania’s personal growth and, by extension, that of her community and the planet more broadly. The result is a positive, optimistic depiction of the future, albeit one that relies on metaphysical as much as societal change.

A gentle story of hope and family connection.

Kirkus Reviews