Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Greenland

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Shortlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction

A dazzling, debut novel-within-a-novel in the vein of The Prophets and Memorial, about a young author writing about the secret love affair between E.M. Forster and Mohammed el Adl—in which Mohammed's story collides with his own, blending fact and fiction.

In 1919, Mohammed el Adl, the young Egyptian lover of British author E. M. Forster, spent six months in a jail cell. A century later, Kip Starling has locked himself in his Brooklyn basement study with a pistol and twenty-one gallons of Poland Spring to write Mohammed's story.

Kip has only three weeks until his publisher's deadline to immerse himself in the mind of Mohammed who, like Kip, is Black, queer, an Other. The similarities don't end there. Both of their lives have been deeply affected by their confrontations with Whiteness, homophobia, their upper crust education, and their white romantic partners. As Kip immerses himself in his writing, Mohammed's story – and then Mohammed himself – begins to speak to him, and his life becomes a Proustian portal into Kip's own memories and psyche. Greenland seamlessly conjures two distinct yet overlapping worlds where the past mirrors the present, and the artist's journey transforms into a quest for truth that offers a world of possibility.

Electric and unforgettable, David Santos Donaldson's tour de force excavates the dream of white assimilation, the foibles of interracial relationships, and not only the legacy of a literary giant, but literature itself.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Theo Solomon does an incredible job navigating the complexities of this remarkable debut novel about storytelling; Black, queer identity; and the surprising connections between past and present. Kip is an Afro-Caribbean writer who barricades himself in his Brooklyn basement in order to finish his historical novel about Mohammed, the Egyptian lover of E.M. Forster. Soon, time blurs, and Kip and Mohammed's stories begin to merge. Solomon fully inhabits Kip, voicing all his pent-up anger and longing in tones that oscillate between dryly humorous and painfully vulnerable. It's difficult to convey just how powerful Solomon's performance of Kip's first-person narration is. This is an audiobook to fall into and linger in. Everything about it is magical. L.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading