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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Nov 2017, 160 pages
Paperback:
Sep 2018, 144 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Karen Lewis
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A searing original, a modern-day parable of rebirth and renewal, of maternal bonds, and the instinct to survive and thrive in the absence of all that's familiar.
As London is submerged below floodwaters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, she and her baby are forced to leave their home in search of safety. They head north through a newly dangerous country seeking refuge from place to place. The story traces fear and wonder as the baby grows, thriving and content against all the odds.
The End We Start From is an indelible and elemental first book - a lyrical vision of the strangeness and beauty of new motherhood, and a tale of endurance in the face of ungovernable change.
1
I am hours from giving birth, from the event I thought would never happen to me, and R has gone up a mountain.
When I text him, he sends his friend S to look after me, and starts down the mountain.
S is scared, and has brought J.
J is also scared, and has brought beer.
They watch me from a corner of the room as though I am an unpredictable animal, a lumbering gorilla with a low-slung belly and suspicious eyes. Occasionally they pass me a banana.
They try to put Match of the Day on. I growl. I growl
more and more, and finally I am waterless, the pool of myself spreading slowly past my toes.
They flap like small birds around the water, they perch on my giant head, they speak of kettles and hot towels.
I tell them I have to push, and they back away, reaching
for their phones.
* * *
At first there was only the sea, only the sky. From the sky came a rock, which dropped deep into the sea. A thick slime covered the rock, and from this slime words grew.
* * *
...The End We Start From shares the shelf with other tales of war and survival. In this case the enemy is natural disaster and the quest is for a return to normal. Home will never seem the same, even if they're able to repopulate; trauma will resonate even if R and the narrator find each other after displacement. I'm not going to spoil the plot here, but much of what kept me riveted to this novel is the exquisite, poetic language. Hunter's settings, imagery, and characters conspire to deliver a cinematic, if sometimes fragmented reading experience, absent of actual dialogue. The book is longlisted for the 2018 Aspen Words Literary Prize, recommended to those who like their fiction literary and poetic with strong motherhood themes and a tender, understated love story...continued
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(Reviewed by Karen Lewis).
Christie Watson, author of Tiny Sunbirds Far Away
I held my breath reading this beautiful and timely novel. With precise yet lyrical language Megan Hunter gets to the centre of who we are, where we are, and why it matters. The End We Start From is a work of art. Cynan Jones, author of The Dig
Beautiful ... Water isn't the thing here, love is. And how we survive as the level of love rises. Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
A beautifully spare, haunting meditation on the persistence of life after catastrophe. I loved it. Evie Wyld, author of All the Birds, Singing
An exceptional, alarming and beautiful book, which still echoes months after I finished reading it. Megan Hunter is a writer of unnerving power. Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites
Extraordinary. Megan Hunter's prose is exquisite, her depiction of a world descending into chaos is frighteningly real, and yet, it is her portrayal of motherhood - that tender-terrifying experience of bringing a child into a world - that has remained with me. The End We Start From is an incredible, original exploration of all that beauty, boredom and bewilderment. I read it in one sitting, and was deeply moved. Jim Crace, author of Harvest
I can't remember ever having read a novel quite as sparing or as daring as Megan Hunter's The End We Start From, or one that delivers so mighty an impact from such delicate materials. It is a moving, wistful and compelling debut. Lisa Owens, author of Not Working
A beautiful, timely book about survival (both domestic and global) shot through with hope and humanity. Nathan Filer, author of The Shock of the Fall
I'll be recommending this book for years to come. Utterly brilliant, hugely important. Here's the thing: it's perfect. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, author of Harmless Like You
The End We Start From is relentlessly, achingly personal. Hunter reminds us that disasters are rarely experienced in panorama. Instead, we live bone-deep inside our narrator. This book is fierce, sorrowful, and spiked with moments of bright joy. Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl Earring
The End We Start From is strange and powerful, and very apt for these uncertain times. I was moved, terrified, uplifted - sometimes all three at once. It takes skill to manage that, and Hunter has a poet's understanding of how to make each word count.The End We Start From takes place during a drastic, near-future flood that impacts London and its surrounding territory. During 2017, floods surged over many regions of the world. As the plausibility of future catastrophic flooding seems more and more likely, it is fascinating to take a look at how floods figure prominently in ancient legends, from a variety of traditions. Here's a quick summary of an incredibly complex and rich heritage of their mythology.
Genesis describes the story of Noah and his ark, which takes place near modern day Mount Ararat in Anatolia (Turkey). Long before the first written record of Genesis, the Sumerians told a flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, about 2500 BCE. Torrential rain caused great flooding and ...
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