2011 Longlist
The Winter Vault
ABOUT
THE BOOK
Egypt, 1964. The great temple at Abu Simbel must be dismantled and resurrected high above the rising waters of the Aswan Dam. This daunting task is overseen by Avery, a young engineer who, at the same time, is carefully building a life with his new wife, Jean. But not everything can be saved once the floodgates have opened: villages will be deluged, thousands will be exiled from their homes, and graves will be moved. And when Avery and Jean suffer a terrible loss of their own, they begin their separate journeys through the landscape of grief.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Using ideas and images from the contrasting disciplines of engineering and Botany, Anne Michaels explores the concepts of memory, displacement and loss in unforgettable prose.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Country
Canada
Original Language
English
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing
Nominating Library