Book description
At the dawn of the twentieth century a disparate group of travellers
are thrown together in the Caucasus Mountains, fabled land of
Argonauts, Amazons, and Cossacks. Henry Norman, a British Member of
Parliament and author, teams up with Canadian radio pioneer and
amateur archaeologist Reginald Fessenden and Katherine Waddell, the
lover of Fessenden's dead friend, Ottawa poet Archibald Lampman.
Each has a question. Fessenden seeks physical confirmation of the
Garden of Eden, Atlantis, and the Great Flood. Norman, ever the
detached observer, is after material for a new book but gets more than
he bargained for. Waddell pursues some elusive realm where she can
find solace for her grief over Lampman and perhaps, like Fessenden, a
glimpse of Paradise. Along for the carriage ride through the remote
Caucasus is Pushkin-loving Sergei, a rowdy, irreverent Georgian guide
and interpreter.
There are many views from Mount Tamischeira, legendary spot from
which the Deluge of Deluges was first witnessed, but for this band of
latter-day Argonauts, peering into one's heart may be the most
challenging prospect.
Richard Cumyn was born in Ottawa and has degrees in english and
education from Queen's University. He is the fiction editor for The
Antigonish Review and has published four collections of short
fiction: The Limit of Delta Y over Delta X (Goose Lane), I
Am Not Most Places (Beach Holme), Viking Brides (Oberon),
and The Obstacle Course (Oberon). Cumyn's short stories have
appeared in many Canadian literary publications, including The
Journey Prize Anthology. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
