Connections in time

Emily St John Mandel is best known for her book Station Eleven which is set after the world experiences a great pandemic and social order breaks down – it’s one of my favourite books. Sea of Tranquility is, in my opinion, almost as good – it’s a story that involves time travel and the connections between a disparate group of individuals through time who all seem to have the same experience.

In 1912, Edwin St. John St. Andrew lands in Canada with no real plan for the future. Edwin slowly travels west and, in a forest, is caught up in a mysterious darkness and a mix of sounds. It’s an experience that knocks him sideways. In 2020, Mirella Kessler is trying to find a former friend and tracks down his brother- a composer who is only well known in certain circles. His performance includes a video clip shot by her friend several years earlier, where she seems to have had the same experience as Edwin. Meanwhile in 2203, Olive Llewellyn is a young and successful writer living on a colony on the moon, but is on Earth, for a book tour. Uncomfortably, Olive starts wondering if an actual pandemic is starting to break out – there have been reports of a worrying new virus hitting Australia and New Zealand. Olive also has had a similar experience to Edwin and Vincent.

The book’s central character is Gaspery-Jacques Roberts – who meets all three characters, without ever having appeared to age. He’s very interested in the mysterious darkness and the mixture of sounds the three people have experienced.

The first half of the book introduces each of these characters and describes their experiences. We have no idea what is going on and how these events might be connected. It’s a tribute to the author that she kept my attention during this part of the story because I am not fond of books where the reader is deliberately teased with information which is not quite enough to have a clear view of what is happening. The second part of the book draws things together and shows us what the connection is, although it doesn’t tie up all of the loose ends. It’s very well done.

This is a short book but an original and engaging one.