Melanie Finn was born and raised in Kenya until age 11, when she moved with her family to Connecticut. After studying journalism at NYU, she worked as a freelance journalist and screenwriter for twenty years, living and working in six different countries. In 2004, her first novel, Away From You was published to international acclaim. The following year, she and her husband, the wildlife filmmaker Matt Aeberhard, moved to a remote region of Tanzania to make DisneyNature's beautiful, haunting flamingo epic, The Crimson Wing. During the filming, Melanie became the medic to the local Masai community and established The Natron Healthcare Project. Her second novel, The Gloaming, was a New York Times Notable Book of 2016, finalist for the Vermont Book Award and The Guardian's "Not the Booker" Prize. In 2018 her novel The Underneath was released to great acclaim. She now lives on a hill in Vermont with Matt, their twin daughters, three Tanzanian mutts and two very old horses.
"Deeply satisfying. Finn is a remarkably confident and supple
storyteller. [The Gloaming] deserves major attention."
--John Williams, New York Times"In this richly textured,
intricately plotted novel, [Finn] assures us that heartbreak has
the same shape everywhere. The Gloaming is chillingly cinematic in
contrasting East Africa's exquisite landscape with the region's
human needs. Yet even in a malevolent setting, Finn shows us acts
of selflessness and redemption. Her fascination with the duality of
Africa -- "the most honest place on earth" -- shines fiercely."
--Lisa Zeidner, New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice"A
psychologically astute thriller that belongs on the shelf with the
work of Patricia Highsmith. Alternating chapters between two
continents, the book is brilliant on the pervasiveness of
corruption and the murkiness of human motivation. Here is a
page-turner that leaves its reader wiser."
--Karen R. Long, Newsday"Masterfully timed, frightening in its
precision and delivery... a haunting story about consequence that
spans literal continents. My skin prickled with every chapter. This
is a story that explores coping with loss and consequence, its plot
spliced with the implicit mystery of those emotions."
--Alibi"This ambitious novel addresses age-old questions through
the story of one woman's abrupt alienation from her own life. It's
an immersive, atmospheric read that is difficult to shake."
--Seven Days"Suffice it to say that this is one of the most
exhilarating, heartbreaking, and haunting novels that I have ever
read--and I've read a great deal. Few other writers could rival
Finn's exquisite prose... The plot leaves you guessing, wanting
more, not quite finished with the story when you're forced to turn
the last page."
--Tethered by Letters/F(r)Online"Brilliant... [The Gloaming] is a
pure example of a literary page-turner, one that begins with an
ending and ends with a new beginning, written by a very smart
author."
--Electric Literature"Excellent. A wonderful book."
--The Rumpus"An intense and clever literary thriller."
--Largehearted Boy"A propulsive literary thriller. Finn, who writes
with a psychological acuity that rivals Patricia Highsmith's,
switches between Europe and Africa in tense alternating chapters,
rewarding close attention. The book is terrific... subtle and
thrilling. Remarkably well-paced and well-written... Don't expect
to be able to set this book down or forget its haunted
characters."
--Kirkus Reviews, *starred* review"[The Gloaming is] intense, raw,
a story less about moving on with ones' life than learning how to
live aware of life's messy, connective tissues. And of course, it's
a testament to the striking writing of its author, Melanie
Finn."
--Weird Sister"Finn's sure-footed prose, an intricate, clever plot,
and the novel's powerful examination of cultural divides enrich
this story, leading up to its shocking, brilliant conclusion as
Pilgrim and the others search for salvation in an unforgiving
land."
--Publishers Weekly"Intense, impressive... Told with force, and
bracing directness... It's a book that smashes into you."
--The Guardian"I rarely get as invested in the outcome of a novel
as I did reading The Gloaming, but the empathies that Melanie Finn
evokes in this powerful and unpredictable book are not casual;
these traumas could be our own. These characters could be us. And
so, the themes are familiar and unyielding: Pain. The past. That
flyspeck point of convergence where they meet. The regrettable
inevitability of everything that passes after that. And shame. Her
prose is hypnotic and knife-precise and at times so beautiful it's
unnerving. I didn't read this book so much as I experienced it and
it will haunt me for a very, very long time."
--Jill Alexander Essbaum, New York Times-bestselling author of
Hausfrau"A thought-provoking novel... deftly set in a world of
mercenaries, philanthropists and witch doctors in polyester suits,
the book asks how one atones for atrocity."
--Tatler"There's an eerie, existential quality about Melanie Finn's
new novel... A paean to a magical continent of silent forests,
slow, dark rivers, wild green mangroves; a world populated by child
ghosts, haunted whites and AK-47-toting rebels. It is through this
heart of darkness, a landscape rich in possibilities, that Pilgrim
stumbles towards the light."
--New Zealand Herald"Full of empathy and intelligence... The ending
is startlingly optimistic and very moving."
--Sydney Morning Herald"Compelling."
--The Australian
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