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The Sun Makes a Sound
Mason Brigster-Contreras is piecing his life back together. After his wife's unexpected death, he attempts to find purpose and atonement with a team of scientists assessing Nunavut's pristine Kivalliq tundra ahead of massive mining developments. Mason survives the summer, but the day before they are set to leave, he is pushed into uncharted territory by caribou and wildfire. He stumbles into an unusual refuge with others who have been stranded for decades. They have a community. They seem to thrive in their baffling high arctic oasis. As Mason settles into this new world, his haunted past catches up. Now the sanctuary which gave him a new chance at life threatens his freedom, his sanity, and his will to live.
326 pages, Paperback
Published September 17, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 26, 2025
The Sun Makes A Sound starts off with a bang. The main character, Mason Brigster-Contreras, is deep asleep in his tent when a menacing sound awakens him. Suspecting a polar bear, he grabs his rifle and we are thrust into a fascinating story about a man struggling to find his place in a new world while simultaneously dealing with his past.
The Sun Makes A Sound takes place in Nunavut’s Kivalliq Region, a vast and unexplored tundra approximately two thousand kilometres northeast of Edmonton, Alberta. It’s a desolate and dreary place that Whitman writes about with so much clarity that the location feels like a character in the book. While the ‘meat’ of the story takes place in Kivalliq, numerous chapters take place in Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto. Nature herself plays a massive role as well; from wildfires to wild animals to vibrant seasons, this book is filled with outdoorsy content.
I found Whitman to be an expressive writer. What I mean by that is he has a talent of making it easy for readers to sense very clearly what he is writing about. For example, when talking about a noise, he described the sound as “pantyhose rubbing against corduroy.” I could easily hear the scratching in my head as I read the words. Another moving passage occurred when our main character woke up after taking a tumble, unsure how long he’d been lying unconscious in the cold outdoors: “I couldn't tell if I was losing blood, if I had crossed that threshold of too many pints spilled. I couldn't tell if I was only a husk. Was I only this worried bundle of thoughts, attached to my body out of habit alone? But when the wind held its breath for a moment, I could hear my heart thumping in my ears. My head felt like a bag of rabid weasels. My fingers and toes were being reawakened by thousands of needle pricks. I wasn't dead yet.” Beautiful! These are just two examples amidst hundreds.
Once you’ve read The Sun Makes A Sound, it won’t be surprising to learn that Regina-based Whitman is an environmental scientist. Used to dealing with environmental messes, Whitman’s past experiences shine through in this tale. (On Amazon, this book is categorized as a literary thriller, literary fiction, and fantasy fiction but I also see it as an environmental thriller.)
The Sun Makes A Sound is Whitman’s first novel. He previously published creative writing for fourteen years under a pseudonym; short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. I am already looking forward to the future writings with Andy Whitman’s name on the cover.
If you are looking for a vibrant story that combines layered locales with memorable characters, The Sun Makes A Sound should be on your Must-Read list!
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
The Sun Makes A Sound takes place in Nunavut’s Kivalliq Region, a vast and unexplored tundra approximately two thousand kilometres northeast of Edmonton, Alberta. It’s a desolate and dreary place that Whitman writes about with so much clarity that the location feels like a character in the book. While the ‘meat’ of the story takes place in Kivalliq, numerous chapters take place in Calgary, Edmonton, and Toronto. Nature herself plays a massive role as well; from wildfires to wild animals to vibrant seasons, this book is filled with outdoorsy content.
I found Whitman to be an expressive writer. What I mean by that is he has a talent of making it easy for readers to sense very clearly what he is writing about. For example, when talking about a noise, he described the sound as “pantyhose rubbing against corduroy.” I could easily hear the scratching in my head as I read the words. Another moving passage occurred when our main character woke up after taking a tumble, unsure how long he’d been lying unconscious in the cold outdoors: “I couldn't tell if I was losing blood, if I had crossed that threshold of too many pints spilled. I couldn't tell if I was only a husk. Was I only this worried bundle of thoughts, attached to my body out of habit alone? But when the wind held its breath for a moment, I could hear my heart thumping in my ears. My head felt like a bag of rabid weasels. My fingers and toes were being reawakened by thousands of needle pricks. I wasn't dead yet.” Beautiful! These are just two examples amidst hundreds.
Once you’ve read The Sun Makes A Sound, it won’t be surprising to learn that Regina-based Whitman is an environmental scientist. Used to dealing with environmental messes, Whitman’s past experiences shine through in this tale. (On Amazon, this book is categorized as a literary thriller, literary fiction, and fantasy fiction but I also see it as an environmental thriller.)
The Sun Makes A Sound is Whitman’s first novel. He previously published creative writing for fourteen years under a pseudonym; short fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. I am already looking forward to the future writings with Andy Whitman’s name on the cover.
If you are looking for a vibrant story that combines layered locales with memorable characters, The Sun Makes A Sound should be on your Must-Read list!
THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM
March 9, 2026
Whitman’s debut novel is a mind-bending, engaging, not like anything you’ve ever read before read. It’s captivating and builds such a beautiful, profound picture of grief, love, determination, and surrealism into a fantastical and well described world. The protagonist is imperfect, makes mistakes, grows, and is possibly the most compelling unreliable narrator I’ve ever read. Whitman’s writing is frank yet descriptive, comedic and yet endearing, and imaginative yet feels classic in the sense of something that is reminiscent of stories from centuries ago. I feel privileged to have experienced this book and can’t wait to read it again and discover new facets of this story.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews