Release Date: September 3, 2024
About The Book:
THE LAST WHALER is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive under extreme conditions. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to rendezvous with the ship meant to carry them back to their home in southern Norway. Beyond enduring the Arctic winter’ s twenty-four-hour night, the couple must cope with the dangers of polar bears, violent storms, and bitter cold as well as Astrid’ s unexpected pregnancy. THE LAST WHALER concerns the impact of humans on pristine environments, the isolation of mental illness, the sustenance of religious faith, and the solace of storytelling.
About The Author:
A writer and poet for almost thirty years, Cynthia Reeves was honored with Miami Uni- versity Press’s novella prize, and residencies at Hawthornden Castle, Vermont Studio Center, Galleri Svalbard, and the 2017 Arctic Circle Summer Solstice Expedition. She is the author of Badlands (2007) and Falling Through the New World (2024), and her work has appeared in numerous literary journals. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing fromWarren Wilson College. Find out more at her website www.cynthiareeveswriter.com.
Social Media:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cynthia_p_reeves
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cynthia.reeves.921
Twitter/ X: https://x.com/cynthiapreeves
Book Blurbs:
Cynthia Reeves’s The Last Whaler is an accomplished and magnificent novel. Meticulously researched and fully imagined, it is the story of a couple’s sojourn at an Arctic whaling station in the late nineteen thirties. Told in two distinct and vibrant voices through letters that drama- tize daily threats and accomplishments, it is a gripping tale about a marriage under extreme stress as a man and woman, already grieving for a lost child, separately find their peace in in-hospitable conditions. -Megan Staffel, author of The Causative Factor, The Exit Coach, and Lessons in Another
Language The Last Whaler reimagines the tropes of Victorian and Romantic novels through a uniquely feminist environmentalist lens, rendering a classic story as timely, contemporary fiction….The Last Whaler is a raw, beautiful novel you will not soon forget.Tanya Whiton, author of Two for the Road
Cynthia Reeves’s writing is riveting, evoking the shadowy boundary between physical and spiritual realms… As suspenseful as it is profound, Reeves’s novel finds harmony in a perilous landscape that seeks balance between life and death, wonder and danger, joy and sorrow.-Elizabeth Mosier, author of Excavating Memory: Archaeology and Home
The Last Whaler is gale-force with narrative and unforgettable images…. The prose is an over- lap of ancient tales and modern insights, a meditation on the fleeting beauty of earthly love and existence, and an inquiry into how we best live with ourselves and other creatures. -Helen Klein Ross, author of The Latecomers, What Was Mine, and Making It
Bloggers On Tour:
Sept. 17th- Books and Coffee MX https://instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx
Sept. 18th Reading On The Brink https://www.instagram.com/readingonthebrink
Sept. 18th- A Court Of spines n pages https://instagram.com/acourtofspinesnpages
Sept. 19th- Art X Souls https://instagram.com/artxsouls
Sept. 21st- Novels and Latte Book Club https://www.facebook.com/groups/357651988042629
Sept. 24th- Lindas Book Obsession https://www.facebook.com/lindasbookobsession/
Sept. 26th- One More Exclamation https://instagram.com/onemoreexclamation
Sept. 27th- Sarahs Bookish Reviews https://instagram.com/sarahs.bookish.reviews
Sept. 30th- Reading Is My Remedy https://instagram.com/reading_is_my_remedy
Oct. 4th – Nurse Bookie https://instagram.com/nurse_bookie
Oct. 9th- Shooks Books https://instagram.com/shook_sbooks
Oct. 10th- Christina Luvs 2 Read https://instagram.com/christinaluvs2read
Oct. 11th- Rozier Reads and Wine https://instagram.com/rozierreadsandwine
Oct. 18th – Crafty Jenn Reads https://instagram.com/crafty.jenn.reads
Oct. 19th- Subakka Bookstuff https://instagram.com/subakka.bookstuff
Oct. 19th- CMT Loves Wine and Books https://instagram.com/cmtloveswineandbooks
Oct. 20th- Plains Reading https://instagram.com/plains_reading
Suzy Approved Book Tours 
I’d love to visit your book club, blog, bookstore, or library to talk about my Arctic travels and the writing of this book. Just reach out through the contact form on my website cynthiareeveswriter.com.
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