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This poetic novel, by the acclaimed author of John Dollar, describes America at the brink of the Atomic Age. In the years between the two world wars, the future held more promise than peril, but there was evidence of things unseen that would transfigure our unquestioned trust in a safe future.
Fos has returned to Tennessee from the trenches of France. Intrigued with electricity, bioluminescence, and especially x-rays, he believes in science and the future of technology. On a trip to the Outer Banks to study the Perseid meteor shower, he falls in love with Opal, whose father is a glassblower who can spin color out of light.
Fos brings his new wife back to Knoxville where he runs a photography studio with his former Army buddy Flash. A witty rogue and a staunch disbeliever in Prohibition, Flash brings tragedy to the couple when his appetite for pleasure runs up against both the law and the Ku Klux Klan. Fos and Opal are forced to move to Opal's mother's farm on the Clinch River, and soon they have a son, Lightfoot. But when the New Deal claims their farm for the TVA, Fos seeks work at the Oak Ridge Laboratory — Site X in the government's race to build the bomb.
And it is there, when Opal falls ill with radiation poisoning, that Fos's great faith in science deserts him. Their lives have traveled with touching inevitability from their innocence and fascination with "things that glow" to the new world of manmade suns.
Hypnotic and powerful, Evidence of Things Unseen constructs a heartbreaking arc through twentieth-century American life and belief.
Finalist for the 2003 National Book Award, Fiction.
Finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Dif Sincre
reviewed Evidence of Things Unseen on December 25, 2011 Evidence of Things Unseen
I've got to hand it to Goodreads. I never would have even heard of this book if it weren't for the reading friends I've made there. And that would have been a shame, because Evidence of Things Unseen is going on my list of all-time favorite books and likely the best book I've read this year.
The book opens with Fos (nicknamed for Ray Foster), a World War I vet, home from the trenches, with a newfound appreciation for science and technology. He meets Opal on a trip to see the Perseid meteor shower on the North Carolina coast, and immediately knows they are destined to marry.
"That was Fos' way with things, looking on the bright side. Seeing glowing haloes where others saw false paragons decaying into chalk inside abandoned churches. The difference between Fos and Opal was the difference between x and something absolute. Fos was light; and Opal, matter. Together they were two sides of the same page."
And yet in the midst of Fos' hope for the future, the great depression bears heavy upon the country, and Opal's hopes for a family become dimmer with each passing month.
Marianne Wiggins paints a striking tale of a young couple looking eagerly at the future, and a country which also places its hopes in the promise of the Atomic Age. Like the couple, America finds that you should be careful what you wish for.
With amazing prose, this author has presented a slice of history and dares you to look deeper. It is not surprising that Evidence of Things Unseen was a National Book Award finalist. It is the total package - a great story, beautiful writing, history and depth. I only wish I could find more books of this caliber.
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Add Evidence of Things Unseen, This poetic novel, by the acclaimed author of John Dollar, describes America at the brink of the Atomic Age. In the years between the two world wars, the future held more promise than peril, but there was evidence of things unseen that would transfigure o, Evidence of Things Unseen to the inventory that you are selling on WonderClubX
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Add Evidence of Things Unseen, This poetic novel, by the acclaimed author of John Dollar, describes America at the brink of the Atomic Age. In the years between the two world wars, the future held more promise than peril, but there was evidence of things unseen that would transfigure o, Evidence of Things Unseen to your collection on WonderClub |
