Darwin's Wink: A Novel of Nature and Love

by Alison Anderson

Alison Anderson's Darwin's Wink is the story of an exquisite romance between two naturalists working to save a rare bird species on an island off the coast of Mauritius. Both are devastated by their Fran mourns the unexplained death of her Mauritian lover; Christian, a former Red Cross worker, has recently left war-torn Bosnia after the mysterious disappearance of his fiancée. As they slowly teach each other to trust again, the two must also contend with strange attacks on the island that place both their lives and livelihoods in grave danger.

Genres: Fiction, Romance

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Alison Anderson spent many years in California; she now lives in a Swiss village and works as a literary translator. Her translations include Europa Editions’ The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and works by Nobel laureate J. M. G. Le Clézio. She has also written two previous novels and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Literary Translation Fellowship. She has lived in Greece and Croatia, and speaks several European languages, including Russian.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot and setting were interesting (biologists pursuing romance and endangered species on an equatorial island off the coast of Africa, and the thing that kept me reading was wanting to see what would happen next. The writing, though, keeps the reader at arm's length from the characters. The narration is indirect, no actual dialogue or thoughts, all third person omniscient and telling the story from a distance.

[Charles Samuels · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a bit surprised at how poorly the character, Fran, (an ornithologist and conservationist) seemed to understand Darwinian theory. Then again, the book smacks of Harlequin romance novel meets literature, and more the former than the latter. In short: by a woman, for women. Still, it isn't badly written. It's worth a look, just know what you're getting into.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please read my review of Hidden Latitudes to learn why I so love Anderson's writing.

[Carmela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put the book down. Great descriptions.

[Fia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can appreciate a book written in a different way but I couldn't get interested in the story even half way through and had to put it down.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written on extinction and rebirth--of species and of trust.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

As soon as I saw this book, I remembered reading her book Hidden Latitudes, which was a fictional imagining of Amelia Earhart after she crashed her plane on a remote island. She was with a man - I can't remember if he was her engineer and on the plane with her or there for some other reason - and they fall in love. So after reading this book, I sort of feel like Anderson has a thing for unconventional romances that take place on islands, but I still really liked this - some beautiful writing about nature and evolution, trying to preserve fragile things against the onslaught of 'progress', and difficult relationships that would only ever take place in a very specific environment.