The Dolphin House

by Audrey Schulman

Overview

Based on the true story of the 1965 “dolphin house” experiment, this spellbinding novel captures the tenor of the social experiments of the 1960s in award-winning author Audrey Schulman’s tightly paced and evocative style.

It is 1965, and Cora, a young, hearing impaired woman, buys a one-way ticket to the island of St. Thomas, where she discovers four dolphins held in captivity as part of an experiment led by the obsessive Dr. Blum. Drawn by a strong connection to the dolphins, Cora falls in with the scientists and discovers her need to protect the animals.

Recognizing Cora’s knack for communication, Blum uses her for what will turn into one of the most fascinating experiments in modern science: an attempt to teach the dolphins human language by creating a home in which she and a dolphin can live together.

As the experiment progresses, Cora forges a remarkable bond with the creatures, until her hard-won knowledge clashes with the male-dominated world of science. As a terrible scandal threatens to engulf the experiment, Cora’s fight to save the dolphins becomes a battle to save herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609457464
Publisher:	Europa Editions, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/05/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Audrey Schulman is the author of five previous novels, including Three Weeks in December and Theory of Bastards, both published by Europa Editions. Her work has been translated into eleven languages. Born in Montreal, Schulman lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she runs a not-for-profit energy efficiency organisation. 

Editorial Reviews

★ “Schulman builds a lovely picture of the growth of mutual trust and enjoyment among the dolphins and Cora... Both woman and dolphins come to vivid life in this fascinating and beautifully realized novel.”—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“Engrossing... As with Ms. Schulman’s outstanding 2018 novel Theory of Bastards, the frisson of The Dolphin House comes when it turns the methods of rigorous observation on its humans.”—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

“Readers will enjoy this novel of the human need for connection, conversation, and community.”—Booklist

Praise for A Theory of Bastards

“The novel I can’t get out of my head is Audrey Schulman’s mid-Collapse Theory of Bastards, with its nuanced confluence of the personal and the epic, the human and the nonhuman.”—Jeff VanderMeer

“Both an edifying read and an exhilarating one.”—The Economist

“You will be unable to look away from the page, hardly be able to draw a breath.”—Washington Post

“The best novel I’d read in months, an actual page-turner of a book that blended literary fiction with sci-fi and anthropological research. [. . .] Theory of Bastards is something special.”—Paul Constant, The Seattle Review of Books

“An astute, impeccable page-turner readers will savor. ”—Publishers Weekly

“Schulman is a swift, confident, engaging writer who wields her considerable research [with] a nimble touch.”—Wall Street Journal

“Beguiling, irreverent, and full of heart.”—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Praise for Three Weeks in December

 “Schulman delivers the known world in startling new sounds, colors, tastes and smells.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Against a backdrop of punishing nature and menacing warlords, Schulman meticulously explores the inner lives of her characters.” —The New Yorker

“Two mesmerizing tales based on historical fact and enlivened by sympathetic, fully formed characters... This beautiful novel deserves wide readership.”—Library Journal

“The way the two stories come together is unexpected, absolutely original, believable and so beautifully told that the reader leaves the book feeling amazed and completely satisfied.”—Shelf Awareness

“All of this, combined with Schulman’s skill in shaping a narrative and her disciplined prose, makes the novel something of a page-turner, and a fascinating study of the wonder and terror of life in this world.” —National Post (Canada)

“Kudos to Audrey Schulman for a literary feat well done.”—New York Journal of Books 

From the Publisher

★ 2022-03-02
A woman navigates life in 1960s America, finding her way while interacting with dolphins in a scientific-research project.

In 1965, hearing-impaired Cora is a waitress in a Florida club, one in which her tight-fitting bunny costume includes ears and a tail. While using her earnings to pay off new hearing aids that “masqueraded as cat-eye glasses,” Cora manages a tricky situation nicely until, that is, one man’s wandering hands wander a little too far. Then, inspired by a sign for South Pacific, she buys a one-way ticket to St. Thomas, where she crosses paths with Dr. Blum, a research scientist studying dolphins. In the water with the mammals, Cora discovers a wonderful new angle to her world: she can “hear” the dolphins spectacularly underwater—and they respond to her, too. As she wins their trust, the scene is set for a tale that’s both inspiring and ghastly—Blum is conducting physical research on the dolphins, after all—but the relationship between Cora and the mammals is joyfully detailed and a pleasure to follow. Schulman builds a lovely picture of the growth of mutual trust and enjoyment among the dolphins and Cora as she works to train the sea mammals to communicate linguistically with humans. Given the time frame, casual sexism is par for the course on the part of Blum and his male colleagues. The men are most likely to be found glued to the television, iced cocktails in hand, but that just leaves Cora more space to interact with the dolphins. She develops Blum’s research processes, educates herself by reading Blum’s science books, and even challenges him. Then, when Cora moves into a purpose-built homearium with one of the dolphins, the situation takes an intriguing turn.

Both woman and dolphins come to vivid life in this fascinating and beautifully realized novel.

Kirkus Reviews