Shandi Mitchell

"When you spend your life saving others... who will be there to save you? When tragedy erupts out of a summer night's stifling darkness, the whole city of Halifax finds itself suddenly mired in a labyrinth of sorrow and anger. The city's inhabitants are already prickly from a heat wave and a tropical storm threatens to make landfall. Caught in the middle are three ordinary people with extraordinary jobs: rescuing strangers in different ways. All of them are deeply devoted to what they do, but they are all beginning to crack under the immense pressures of their work. Tough-as-nails Kate is a trauma nurse who spends her off-duty hours drinking to forget her ER shifts...when she's not working with her beloved search-and-rescue dog, Zeus. Estranged from her troubled family, she is suddenly forced to confront the fact that resolution may elude her forever. Respected police officer Mike can't admit that he's on the edge of burnout. When he makes the mistake of looking in a young crime victim's eyes, he sets himself on a downward spiral that may be impossible to break, slowly fraying the bonds of love that hold his family together. And agoraphobic Tamara is a 911 dispatcher who tries her hardest to remain as calm and emotionless as an automated message, removed from the pain of the outside world. But one night, Tamara is propelled straight into the middle of a story that she can't avoid. Can she bear to enter the daylight world once again to find out how the story ends? Tamara, Mike, Kate: they are all connected to one another, in ways both explicit and invisible. And they will all be forced to make their own fateful choices, bringing changes no one could have foreseen."--

The Waiting Hours

Set in 1938 on the Canadian Prairies, Under This Unbroken Sky, tells the story of a farming family from the Ukraine who, having survived war and Stalin's labour camps, set out to make a living from an unrelenting land in a new country. the harsh vicissitudes of farming life and tensions within the family combine to generate a conflict that ends in tragedy. This is the harrowing and magnificent tale of an immigrant family whose desperate hands work the earth and preserve its gifts, while equally desperate minds plot much darker deeds. Nearly all is lost when a brother is pitted against a sister, a mother against her newborn, with dramatic and breath-taking consequences.

Under this Unbroken Sky

“The most impressive trick of this book – and it is a very good one – is the way Mitchell pulls off a literary thriller that is as suspenseful as it is introspective.” - The Globe and Mail When you spend your life saving others...who will be there to save you? When tragedy erupts on a stifling summer night, three ordinary people, with the extraordinary jobs of rescuing strangers, are connected to one another in ways both explicit and invisible. Each is deeply devoted to what they do, but they are all beginning to crack under the immense pressures of their work. Tough-as-nails Kate, when she's not working with her beloved search-and-rescue dog, Zeus, is a trauma nurse who spends her off-duty hours trying to forget what she has seen. Estranged from her troubled family, she must confront the fact that resolution may elude her forever. Respected police officer Mike is on the edge of burnout and sets himself on a downward spiral that may be impossible to break, fraying the bonds of love that hold his family together. Tamara, an agoraphobic 911 dispatcher, who is trying her hardest to remain as calm and emotionless as an automated message, is propelled into the middle of a story that she can't avoid and must enter the world to find out how it ends. With a city prickling under a heat wave and a hurricane threatening to make landfall, these responders will be forced to make fateful choices that will alter lives. A storm is coming and nobody is prepared.

Out of prison, Theo Mykolayenkos tirelessly clears his untamed land on the 1938 Canadian prairie and begins to heal himself; his wife, Maria; his children; and his sister, Anna; but soon Anna's rogue husband, the scheming Stefan, returns, stirring up rancor that will end in tragedy. 60,000 first printing.

A Novel

Under This Unbroken Sky

Sotto questo cielo intatto è un affresco storico di grande impatto emotivo con cui Shandi Mitchell sembra ridare vita alla grande letteratura americana degli anni Trenta di Steinbeck e Faulkner. Vincitore del Commonwealth Writers’ Prize come miglior esordio, scelto dai librai indipendenti americani come uno dei romanzi migliori del 2009 e da Barnes & Noble come Great New Writer 2009, il romanzo di Shandi Mitchell attinge alla storia familiare dell’autrice e mette in scena il dramma dell’immigrazione in un racconto sull’amore e l’avidità, sull’orgoglio e la disperazione, sulla lotta per la sopravvivenza di chi ha poco o niente.

Shandi Mitchell

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