Accidentals

‘[Gaines’s] elegant prose is so powerfully evocative that the landscape, the people and its birds bounced off the page, surrounding and immersing me in the unfolding story…. From its first sentence to its last, this book focuses on what we love — children, spouses, family, friends, nature, the environment, country — and the many ways that we show our love. Highly recommended.’
– Forbes (Reviewed by grrlscientist)

‘Gaines’s melding of sensual landscapes with ruminations on political history and environmental devastation will be a treat for conservationists, and her critique of globalization and portrayal of sibling rivalry are particularly well rendered. Barbara Kingsolver fans will want to take a look.’
– Publishers Weekly

‘Well-written novels that feature science (but aren’t sf) are few and far between, and this work is a welcome addition, next to Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer or Flight Behavior.
– Library Journal (Reviewed by Faye Chadwell)

‘…the reader will walk away with an understanding of not only Uruguay’s repressive regimes, but also biomes, bird preservation, and more.”
– Kirkus Reviews

‘[O]ne may believe that one is reading a combination of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, and a Greek tragedy…. [T]he descriptions of the political and environmentalist issues of this Latin American country and ways to face them (which are in contrast to the environmentalist work developed in the United States) all contribute to [Accidentals] being a hit…. a refreshing contribution to climate and science literature.
– Configurations (Carlos Gámez-Pérez)

‘Ecology. Conservation. Politics. Young love. Family secrets. Each of these topics, alone, could be fertile ground for a story about the strength and beauty of the human spirit when faced with adversity. Somehow, however, Susan M. Gaines has managed to weave all of these elements together in her writing of Accidentals, a superb, emotionally fulfilling novel.’
– Internet Review of Books

‘[A] deeply immersive foray into the thorny thickets of politics, nature, history, love, and family, Accidentals  is a spellbinding novel from a writer whom you may not (yet) know, but whose praises you’ll soon be singing.’
– Four Corners Free Press (Chuck Greaves)

‘More than a nature novel: the characters are lovingly depicted, and there’s a lot happening beneath the surface. The plot twists, without giving away spoilers, land like a gut punch. It’s a novel that will keep you up late. With birds. Lots of birds.‘
– Cool Green Science (Mathew L. Miller)

‘Accidentals meaningfully explores the sheer contingency of human and animal life [… and] captures the character of the turn of the last century better than a history book, a science textbook, a work of in-depth journalism, an economic report, or a political manifesto….’
– , Entropy (Natalie Roxburgh)

‘A rich portrait of a country and its people, relayed with detail and wonder, thanks to a naturalist’s eye.’
– Foreword Review

‘This is a book about all the things we don’t yet know; all the things we know but keep hidden; and all the things we once knew but have lost.  Gorgeous, smart, and surprising, Gaines’ family saga takes us into the large world of nations and politics, but also the microscopic world of mud and microbes.  Tender and powerful. Also with birds!’
– Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, The Jane Austen Book Club, and Wit’s End

‘The personal is political: if anybody has ever wondered what this insight means then I recommend Accidentals as an enchanting path toward understanding. This novel of a young man’s transformation, from passive observation to passionate engagement masterfully encompasses so many levels, from the biology of microbes to the chaos of politics and the mysteries of the human heart, with every level rendered fascinating by the author’s extraordinary powers of observation. This is a novel that is, above all, about how seeing is an act of love. A profound and moving experience awaits the reader.’
– Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex and 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction

‘Accidentals is an intimate family story with an astonishingly epic scope. Alive with history, politics, science, romance, and birds, it is as entertaining as it is intelligent, as beautiful as it is wise. Gabe’s evolution from a passive observer to the passionate creator of his own destiny is a life-changing experience not only for him, but for readers as well.’
– Jean Hegland, author of Into the Forest, Still Time, and Windfalls

‘In clean, beautiful prose and with an environmental sensibility evocative of Stegner, Accidentals sings with the vibrancy of the living world. It is a novel both erudite and emotionally compelling, suffused with science and natural history, and one which places Gaines firmly in the company of Richard Powers, Barbara Kingsolver, and Anthony Doerr.’
– Christian Kiefer, author of Phantoms, The Animals, and The Infinite Tides

‘As a conservation biologist, as well as an Uruguayan immigrant and mother of two first-generation Americans, I was as moved by the Quiroga family’s layers of history, secrets, and struggles around land, politics and love, as I was intrigued by the beautiful depictions of birds and musings on evolution and extinction. This is a novel I would like to share with my daughters someday!’
– Ana Luz Porzecanski, Director, Center for Biodiversity & Conservation, American Museum of Natural History.

‘Gaines takes complex scientific hypotheses and translates them into a believable and riveting saga of one woman’s quest for scientific truth….  Skillfully written and deftly plotted, this novel of science set in the early 1980s is unexpectedly compelling.’ – Booklist (Diana Tixier Herald) ‘FANCY beginning the month with a novel about global warming? Even if you’re suffering from post-Kyoto depression, don’t be put off: Susan Gaines’s Carbon Dreams will banish your blues. Her beguiling heroine stubbornly pursues the big, sprawling questions in oceanography, exploring odd bits of evidence and giving her curiosity rein as she pieces together a revolutionary way to plot ancient climates. It’s all here: the fight for grants, intellectual ownership, a triumph at a conference (dream scene for any researcher), an affair or two and inevitable heartbreak as work edges out the lover. Gripping stuff.’ – New Scientist ‘Gaines, who has degrees in chemistry and oceanography, has boldly built the novel around challenging scientific theories…her use of complex concepts and true-to-life practice is inspired.’ – The San Francisco Chronicle ‘No contemporary novelist I know of makes science sexier.’ – The Press Democrat ‘[A] story about the devastatingly serious issue of human-induced climate change…. A remarkable job of conveying what it’s really like to be a scientist, and to make scientific discoveries—not in the blink of an eye, as television or movies would have it, but with gradually shifting insight.’ – C&E News ‘When the heroine is a Latina organic chemist doing research that leads her inexorably into the politics of global climate change and the hero is an organic farmer who happens to be a Sierra Club member…it is difficult to resist.’ – The Southern Sierran, Sierra Club News ‘To read it is to be carried deep into the mind of a young scientist, and just as deep into the mysteries of global warming phenomena past and future.’ – Louis B. Jones, author of Particles and Luck and California’s Over ‘At last, a book that integrates authentic scientific inquiry with the character-driven magic of good literary fiction….  A captivating story that places romantic love side-by-side with the love of sublime ideas.’ – Frederick Reiken, author of The Odd Sea and Lost Legends of New Jersey

‘We gain glimpses of the character of our planet from childhood to its present seniority. Although a first-rate biogeochemical text, the book features some of the qualities of a family photograph…’ – James Lovelock ‘…invaluable for readers approaching biogeochemistry from an allied science or as a student. Echoes of Life offers a festive celebration of why science is fun and of the ‘rampant human curiosity’ that fuels science…’ – Katharine Freeman, Science