Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
It is difficult to discuss Sea of Tranquility (Knopf), Emily St. John Mandel’s amazing sixth novel, without discussing the author. The two are so intertwined that it is impossible to determine where one ends and the other begins.
In the opening pages, we are introduced to Edwin St. Andrew, the youngest son of a British aristocrat, who in 1912 has been exiled to Vancouver. While walking in a forest, Edwin observes, or rather experiences, an “anomaly” that haunts him and makes him doubt his sanity.
Next is Mirella Kessler. She’s a woman whose stock trader husband has committed suicide after unwittingly involving his clients in a Ponzi scheme. For years she has blamed her best friend, Vincent Smith Alkaitis, for being complicit in Vincent’s husband’s orchestration of the scheme, but now in 2020, Mirella desires to reconnect with her. To find her, Mirella seeks out Vincent’s older brother, a semi-famous conductor, whose latest composition includes a video of the “anomaly” taped by Vincent in 1994.
Mandel’s third main character is Olive Llewellyn, a famous author on a book tour of Earth, promoting her bestselling novel about a pandemic. The year is 2203, and Olive and her family live in the second colony on the Moon. At this time in human history, the earth has become overpopulated, forcing mankind to colonize the Moon and beyond in the stars. Toward the end of Olive’s tour, a pandemic strikes, and she is walking through the Oklahoma Airship Terminal when she also experiences the “anomaly.”
THE “ANOMALY” AND A DETECTIVE THREAD TOGETHER
Initially, the reader wonders how these three people, across time and space, are connected. First, there is the “anomaly.” Edwin, Mirella and Olive have described it as some version of a flash of darkness, a train station, notes of a violin and an incomprehensible sound. This description is not a spoiler. It is merely one strand of the ribbon that ties the entire book together.
The second strand is a character named Gaspery, a hotel detective in the black-skied Night City of the Moon. In 2401, colonization has expanded into the galaxy, and the once pristine colonies on the moon have deteriorated. Gaspery joins a secret government agency, the Time Institute, to travel through time to help solve the mystery of the “anomaly.” His sister, a high-ranking scientist at the Institute, discourages him from participating in the program. But Gaspary feels motivated to go after the duo question whether the “anomaly” is real or a simulation of reality. Gaspary finally feels he has a goal in life, and his experiences alter him from a shiftless detective to an agent of change. Although Gaspery doesn’t become an active participant in the story until the second act, the information he collects has the potential to change the timeline of history.
To reveal anything more about the plot of Sea of Tranquility would ruin its wonder and the reader’s delight. I can mention that fans of Mandel’s bestseller Station Eleven will recognize similar themes about plagues, the role of arts in sustaining humanity, and the end of the world. In Station Eleven, presently on HBO MAX as a mini-series, a band of traveling actors rises from the ashes of a pandemic that has slaughtered 99 percent of the population. Similarly, in Sea of Tranquility, the Spanish Flu, Ebola, Covid-19 and a future pandemic take center stage in redefining civilization, and Mandel explores the long-term effects of the illnesses on society and her characters.
RETURNING TO OLD CHARACTERS AND ESCAPING TRAGEDY
Fans of Mandel’s most recent novel, The Glass House, will also appreciate the interweaving of the plot and characters with those of Sea of Tranquility. Mandel continues the tale of Vincent Smith, making her the key eyewitness to the inciting event, the “anomaly,” in this new sci-fi adventure.
Regarding Emily St. John Mandel, like the rest of us, she was in lockdown for the entirety of 2020. Amidst the sounds of non-stop ambulance sirens, feeling trapped in her Brooklyn apartment, and her daughter’s remote learning, Mandel says that writing Sea of Tranquility kept her sane. In an Esquire magazine article, she states: “The book absolutely sprang out of the pandemic. I don’t think I could have written it, if not for that.”
In the novel, Mandel channels the universal feelings of loneliness and isolation we all suffered during lockdown into each character. The most isolated character is Olive, the celebrated author whose pandemic-themed bestseller is about to become a movie. Clearly, Olive is Mandel’s fictional avatar. Mandel has reported that she participated in 114 events in seven countries in 14 months while promoting Station Eleven. She was troubled by the conflicting feelings of gratefulness, yet tedium and loneliness, as experienced by Olive during her mammoth tour of earth. After all, how many times can an author answer the same interview question about the motivations behind the story?
Mandel escaped the tragedy and darkness of our Covid-19 pandemic by writing about the moon and time travel. Sea of Tranquility is her airship, offering readers a lifeline, and transporting them on a thrilling, wistful and memorable journey into the stars.
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