When Gabriel’s mother suddenly decides to
repatriate to her native Uruguay after thirty years in California, he takes a
break from his uninspiring job to accompany her. Immersed in his squabbling
family, birdwatching in the wetlands on their abandoned ranch, and falling in
love with a local biologist, he makes discoveries that force him to contend
with the environmental cataclysm of his turn-of-millennium present—even as he
confronts the Cold War era ideologies and political violence that have shaped
his family’s past. Accidentals is a multicultural novel of loss and
discovery that challenges our notions of family and explores the ways that
science, with all its uncertainties, illuminates the natural world and our
future.
‘Gorgeous, smart, and surprising, this family
saga takes us into the large world of nations and politics, but also the
microscopic world of mud and microbes. Tender and powerful. Also with
birds!’ – Karen Joy Fowler
‘Accidentals sings with the vibrancy
of the living world. It is a novel both erudite and emotionally compelling,
suffused with science and natural history, and one which places Gaines firmly
in the company of Richard Powers, Barbara Kingsolver, and Anthony Doerr.’ –
Christian Kiefer, author of Phantoms and The Infinite Tides
‘Accidentals is an intimate family
story with an astonishingly epic scope. Alive with history, politics, science,
romance, and birds, it is as entertaining as it is intelligent, as beautiful as
it is wise. Gabe’s evolution from a passive observer to the passionate creator
of his own destiny is a life-changing experience not only for him, but for
readers as well.’ – Jean Hegland, author of Still Time and Into the
Forest
‘The personal is political: if anybody has
ever wondered what this insight means then I recommend Accidentals as an
enchanting path toward understanding. ... masterfully encompasses so many
levels, from the biology of microbes to the chaos of politics and the mysteries
of the human heart…. A novel that is, above all, about how seeing is an act of
love..’ – Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex
and Properties of Light
‘…the reader will walk away with an
understanding of not only Uruguay’s repressive regimes, but also biomass, bird
preservation, and more.” Kirkus Reviews
‘Accidentals is a love story set
against a backdrop of family strife and secrets – a kind of Shakespearean
tragedy freighted with Cold War politics, environmental urgency, and birds. …a
spellbinding novel from a writer whom you may not (yet) know, but whose praises
you’ll soon be singing.’ Four Corners Free Press
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