Not sci-fi, Roshanarose, but very nitty gritty fiction.
This past year the author joined the ranks of Studs Terkel, Elie Wiesel, Nicholas Kristof and Geraldine Brooks as the winner of a special award. This year’s award was presented by the widow of Richard Holbrooke. This author has won so many awards, it's almost impossible to keep up. Last year also, the Award for Lifetime Environmental Achievement in the Fine Arts, and the author's latest book received the Orange Award. It also won a literary prize in Virginia. Probably the most prestigious was when the author received the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts, presented by President Clinton.
As a child, the author lived in the country where this novel is set, but experienced a much different life than the family in the novel. This family not only brought their religion to a foreign land, but also everything they thought they would need, most of which was totally unsuitable.
And I need to correct an earlier statement -- The book we're dealing with here was published in the late 90's. I incorrectly said it was the last novel until 2009. This is not so. There was another novel and we discussed it.
Shortly after reading this book, I met a family that had lived more or less in the same area. They assured me that the statements about the unpassable roads, the mud, the isolation, were all true.
I am really enjoying what I'm finding out about this author.
New Year's Day is a holiday here,Rosemary, and I think tomorrow is too, since today is Sunday. I'm with you on not wanting to see a shop for a while, though I do most of my shopping online. But I ate down the house before I left home and the larder is bare. So tomorrow I'll have to face up to it. It was just nibbles at 9 pm last night, and this evening will be an easy pasta. But I hate being without fruit.
