Marrow Island - Rilegato

“Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel.” – Edan Lepucki, author of California

One of BookRiot's "Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "[Marrow Island] is weird and glorious and I loved it. Different from Glaciers, but still wonderful. Marrow Island is about a journalist who returns to her home island to possibly report on a sketchy environmental colony that has set up residence on the island, and to visit her childhood best friend, who is one of the colony’s residents."—BookRiot, "Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "Engrossing and atmospheric, a thorny meditation on environmental responsibility with a big haunted heart."—Miami Herald, “What do you recommend?” by  Laura van den Berg "Wrenching and limpidly written...Smith is excellent at showing the terrible things people can do for the sake of their ideals...A near-perfect read."—Library Journal “Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel.” – Edan Lepucki, author of California "Returning to the islands of her youth, Lucie Bowen finds her long-lost soulmate caught up with a mysterious commune called Marrow Colony and finds herself with no choice but to face the painful past. At once a page-turner and a sustained lyrical meditation on a beloved landscape, this novel also shines a spotlight on the anxieties of living in a world with such environmental uncertainties. The depth of what we possess—and what we stand to lose—is achingly drawn." – Amanda Coplin, author of The Orchardist "I was already happy to count myself among Alexis Smith's admirers, but Marrow Island has brought me to a new level of fandom. From the intricately suspenseful plotting, the remote and intoxicating atmosphere, and the haunted, flinty heroine at the center, this novel absorbed me with the force of a seaside storm, leaving me awed and breathless." – Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me "Atmospheric, intense, and mysterious - Alexis Smith's Marrow Island is a smart novel, richly peopled and lyrically written. Smith is a writer genuinely at home in the natural world, and willing to write truth, darkness, and beauty into the island landscape. She understands well how environmental pressure translates into human pressure and loss. An important, gripping book." – Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Almost Famous Women “Smith marries haunting, lyrical prose with the page-turning urgency of a thriller. Warnings of the environmental and geological disasters that threaten us are woven seamlessly into a beautifully crafted story of loss, love, and rebuilding. A gorgeous, compelling novel.” – Cari Luna, author of The Revolution of Every Day

One of BookRiot's "Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "A stunning novel about sacrifice for the sake of survival in the aftermath of natural and man-made disasters...In graceful and dolorous prose, she captures a dense and dramatic landscape, evoking questions of what it means to harm -- ourselves, our surroundings -- and to heal. Engrossing eco-fiction, eerie and earnest." —Kirkus "A near-perfect read..." —Library Journal "[Marrow Island] is weird and glorious and I loved it. Different from Glaciers, but still wonderful. Marrow Island is about a journalist who returns to her home island to possibly report on a sketchy environmental colony that has set up residence on the island, and to visit her childhood best friend, who is one of the colony’s residents."—BookRiot, "Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "Engrossing and atmospheric, a thorny meditation on environmental responsibility with a big haunted heart."—Miami Herald, “What do you recommend?” by Laura van den Berg "Wrenching and limpidly written...Smith is excellent at showing the terrible things people can do for the sake of their ideals...A near-perfect read."—Library Journal “Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel.” —Edan Lepucki, author of California "Returning to the islands of her youth, Lucie Bowen finds her long-lost soulmate caught up with a mysterious commune called Marrow Colony and finds herself with no choice but to face the painful past. At once a page-turner and a sustained lyrical meditation on a beloved landscape, this novel also shines a spotlight on the anxieties of living in a world with such environmental uncertainties. The depth of what we possess—and what we stand to lose—is achingly drawn." —Amanda Coplin, author of The Orchardist "I was already happy to count myself among Alexis Smith's admirers, but Marrow Island has brought me to a new level of fandom. From the intricately suspenseful plotting, the remote and intoxicating atmosphere, and the haunted, flinty heroine at the center, this novel absorbed me with the force of a seaside storm, leaving me awed and breathless." —Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me "Atmospheric, intense, and mysterious - Alexis Smith's Marrow Island is a smart novel, richly peopled and lyrically written. Smith is a writer genuinely at home in the natural world, and willing to write truth, darkness, and beauty into the island landscape. She understands well how environmental pressure translates into human pressure and loss. An important, gripping book." —Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Almost Famous Women “Smith marries haunting, lyrical prose with the page-turning urgency of a thriller. Warnings of the environmental and geological disasters that threaten us are woven seamlessly into a beautifully crafted story of loss, love, and rebuilding. A gorgeous, compelling novel.”—Cari Luna, author of The Revolution of Every Day

One of BookRiot's "Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "[Marrow Island] is weird and glorious and I loved it. Different from Glaciers, but still wonderful. Marrow Island is about a journalist who returns to her home island to possibly report on a sketchy environmental colony that has set up residence on the island, and to visit her childhood best friend, who is one of the colony’s residents."—BookRiot, "Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" “Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel.” – Edan Lepucki, author of California

“A delicate debut novel that reveals in short, memory-soaked postcards of prose a day in the life of twentysomething library worker Isabel.”—Lisa Shea, ELLE "Glaciers, Alexis Smith’s brilliant debut novel, is filled with kaleidoscopic pleasures. Using prose as clear as pure, cold air, Smith moves the narrative vertically as well as horizontally, each ticking minute yielding more insights into a young woman’s life revealed over one single day. The past, present, and imaginary future stream into beautifully unstable geometries: Isabel's childhood snows from her youth in Alaska are juxtaposed against her adult trip to a vintage thrift store; her hopes for an evening party push against the echoes of war that haunt a young soldier whom she loves. Line by line, in and out of time, this is a haunted, joyful, beautiful book--a true gift." —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! “In short novels like this one, every word has added resonances, and Smith has taken careful measure of every passage, testing each line for symbolic effect.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune “This weaving together of the personal, the sentimental, the environmental, and the trivial gives Smith's unassuming first novel surprising emotional weight.”—The Portland Mercury “The story is one of longing: longing for a life in a faraway city, for the love of a co-worker to be requited, for a closet full of vintage dresses. The book takes place over the course of one day in twenty-something Isabel’s life, with glimpses of her past remembered in-between. The present is used as a point of reference for the past, and although the story moves back and forth, the prose reads smooth like running water.”—The Rumpus “Glaciers is a carefully precise and beautiful meditation on one young woman’s restless heart. It resonates like a haunting postcard from someone else’s life.”—Kevin Sampsell, author of A Common Pornography

One of BookRiot's "Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "[Marrow Island] is weird and glorious and I loved it. Different from Glaciers, but still wonderful. Marrow Island is about a journalist who returns to her home island to possibly report on a sketchy environmental colony that has set up residence on the island, and to visit her childhood best friend, who is one of the colony’s residents."—BookRiot, "Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" “Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel.” – Edan Lepucki, author of California “Smith marries haunting, lyrical prose with the page-turning urgency of a thriller. Warnings of the environmental and geological disasters that threaten us are woven seamlessly into a beautifully crafted story of loss, love, and rebuilding. A gorgeous, compelling novel.” – Cari Luna, author of The Revolution of Every Day

One of BookRiot's "Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "[Marrow Island] is weird and glorious and I loved it. Different from Glaciers, but still wonderful. Marrow Island is about a journalist who returns to her home island to possibly report on a sketchy environmental colony that has set up residence on the island, and to visit her childhood best friend, who is one of the colony’s residents."—BookRiot, "Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "Engrossing and atmospheric, a thorny meditation on environmental responsibility with a big haunted heart."—Laura van den Berg, Miami Herald's "What Do You Recommend?" “Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel.” – Edan Lepucki, author of California "Returning to the islands of her youth, Lucie Bowen finds her long-lost soulmate caught up with a mysterious commune called Marrow Colony and finds herself with no choice but to face the painful past. At once a page-turner and a sustained lyrical meditation on a beloved landscape, this novel also shines a spotlight on the anxieties of living in a world with such environmental uncertainties. The depth of what we possess—and what we stand to lose—is achingly drawn." – Amanda Coplin, author of The Orchardist "I was already happy to count myself among Alexis Smith's admirers, but Marrow Island has brought me to a new level of fandom. From the intricately suspenseful plotting, the remote and intoxicating atmosphere, and the haunted, flinty heroine at the center, this novel absorbed me with the force of a seaside storm, leaving me awed and breathless." – Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me "Atmospheric, intense, and mysterious - Alexis Smith's Marrow Island is a smart novel, richly peopled and lyrically written. Smith is a writer genuinely at home in the natural world, and willing to write truth, darkness, and beauty into the island landscape. She understands well how environmental pressure translates into human pressure and loss. An important, gripping book." – Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Almost Famous Women “Smith marries haunting, lyrical prose with the page-turning urgency of a thriller. Warnings of the environmental and geological disasters that threaten us are woven seamlessly into a beautifully crafted story of loss, love, and rebuilding. A gorgeous, compelling novel.” – Cari Luna, author of The Revolution of Every Day

One of BookRiot's "Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" "[Marrow Island] is weird and glorious and I loved it. Different from Glaciers, but still wonderful. Marrow Island is about a journalist who returns to her home island to possibly report on a sketchy environmental colony that has set up residence on the island, and to visit her childhood best friend, who is one of the colony’s residents."—BookRiot, "Our Most Anticipated Reads of 2016" “Conjuring a lush and mysterious landscape, Marrow Island investigates the impact of the losses of the past—be they loved ones, failed quests, or the environmental calamities brought on by our collective blindness. By turns elegiac, compelling, and timely, it seeks real answers and finds the possibility of miracles. This is a beautiful novel.” – Edan Lepucki, author of California "Returning to the islands of her youth, Lucie Bowen finds her long-lost soulmate caught up with a mysterious commune called Marrow Colony and finds herself with no choice but to face the painful past. At once a page-turner and a sustained lyrical meditation on a beloved landscape, this novel also shines a spotlight on the anxieties of living in a world with such environmental uncertainties. The depth of what we possess—and what we stand to lose—is achingly drawn." – Amanda Coplin, author of The Orchardist "I was already happy to count myself among Alexis Smith's admirers, but Marrow Island has brought me to a new level of fandom. F...

Alexis M. Smith was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She attended Mount Holyoke College, Portland State University, and Goddard College. Her debut novel, Glaciers, was a finalist for the Ken Kesey Award and a selection for World Book Night 2013. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her son.