Good Morning, Midnight (Brooks-Dalton)

Good Morning, Midnight 
Lily Brooks-Dalton, 2016
Random House
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812998894


Summary
For readers of Station Eleven and The Snow Child, Lily Brooks-Dalton’s haunting debut is the unforgettable story of two outsiders—a lonely scientist in the Arctic and an astronaut trying to return to Earth—as they grapple with love, regret, and survival in a world transformed.
 
Augustine, a brilliant, aging astronomer, is consumed by the stars. For years he has lived in remote outposts, studying the sky for evidence of how the universe began.

At his latest posting, in a research center in the Arctic, news of a catastrophic event arrives. The scientists are forced to evacuate, but Augustine stubbornly refuses to abandon his work. Shortly after the others have gone, Augustine discovers a mysterious child, Iris, and realizes that the airwaves have gone silent.

They are alone.
 
At the same time, Mission Specialist Sullivan is aboard the Aether on its return flight from Jupiter. The astronauts are the first human beings to delve this deep into space, and Sully has made peace with the sacrifices required of her: a daughter left behind, a marriage ended.

So far the journey has been a success. But when Mission Control falls inexplicably silent, Sully and her crewmates are forced to wonder if they will ever get home.
 
As Augustine and Sully each face an uncertain future against forbidding yet beautiful landscapes, their stories gradually intertwine in a profound and unexpected conclusion. In crystalline prose, Good Morning, Midnight poses the most important questions: What endures at the end of the world? How do we make sense of our lives?

Lily Brooks-Dalton’s captivating debut is a meditation on the power of love and the bravery of the human heart. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1987-88
• Where—Halifax, Vermont, USA
• Education—A.D., Greenfield Community College
• Currently—lives in Portland, Oregon


Lily Brooks-Dalton is the author of Motorcycles I've Loved: A Memoir (2015), and a novel, Good Morning, Midnight (2016), a sci-fi, survival-adventure story...sort of (2016). Growing up in Halifax, Vermont, Brooks-Dalton attended a boarding school but dropped out at 17. She got her Associates Degree from a local community college, saved some money, then took off to see the world.

After more than three years of traveling—from Ireland to India to Thailand and Australia—she returned home. By then she was 21 and at a loss for how to proceed with her life. A friend encouraged her to look into motorcycles, and soon enough, after buying a Rebel 250, Brooks-Dalton immersed herself in the world of gearheads, helmets, speed, and power. In the meantime, she discovered her own inner momentum: six years later out came her memoir. One year after that, she released Good Morning, Midnight. Lily currently lives in Portland, Oregon. (Based on Amy Poehler's Smart Girls.)

Book Reviews
[A] beautifully written, sparse post-apocalyptic novel that explores memory, loss and identity. The narrative moves seamlessly between Augustine (Augie), a 78-year-old scientist at an observatory at the top of the Arctic archipelago, and Sullivan (Sully), a mission specialist on a deep space flight to Jupiter.
Nancy Hightower - Washington Post


Brooks-Dalton’s prose lights up the page in great swathes, her dialogue sharp and insightful, and the high-concept plot drives a story of place, elusive love, and the inexorable yearning for human contact.... [M]emorable characters explore complex questions that resonate with the urgency of a glimpse into the void.
Publishers Weekly


Two scientists in remote locations must navigate the sudden loss of human life on Earth.... Brooks-Dalton is...at her best when writing about the epic settings that anchor the book.... However, both the plot and the writing itself frequently fall into...an apocalyptic soap opera set in vividly imagined environments.
Kirkus Reviews

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