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HIDDEN LATITUDES: A Novel
When a near shipwreck strands a young couple on an uncharted island in the Pacific, they encounter a mysterious woman who may or may not be the legendary aviator Amelia Earhart but who has been stranded on the remote strip of land for more than forty years
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Alison Anderson
111 books140 followersAlison 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.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 19, 2016
I have my Goodreads friend, Ashley, to thank for discovering this beautifully-written novel that is more a metaphor for one's spiritual journey than a novel imagining what could have happened to Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, had they crash-landed on a remote island and found a means to survive.
On the surface, this reads a bit like the movie Cast Away - if the main character were the famous Amelia Earhart but, unlike Tom Hanks, never rescued. Instead, a sailboat carrying a modern-day couple is marooned on the island during a storm, and Amelia must decide whether or not she even wants to engage with them, let alone return to the mainland if and when their boat is repaired, given she has lived in solitude for 40 years.
I love the interchange between the inner thoughts and fears of the modern-day couple, who represent the frantic pace of our busy lives where we have little time to commune with nature or our inner souls, and Amelia, who has become one with the island/with nature and her innermost self, to the point where solitude is no longer lonely but tranquil.
Here are a few passages I really enjoyed that express the deeper meaning of this work:
[Lucy upon being stranded on the deserted island while her husband tries to repair the engine]
"... She misses the city, civilization, being part of a great cultural connectedness. Her spirit is no longer lively with ideas and expectations, challenged and growing.
Yet if she were in the city, would she not be longing for precisely this - the peace, the solitude, the tropical paradise? Is there not an entire industry based on the exploitation of people's frustrations and on the absurdity of workaday lives made meaningful by two-week budget holidays? But of course, such paradises are often replications of city life: crowds, high-rise hotels, organized leisure, rampant consumerism in the form of useless souvenirs - illusions, carefully packaged and marketed."
[Amelia] "But by staying here, there is no old woman. There are no wrinkles, no lines, no sad wasting of the flesh. No judgment, no pity, no indifference. I see only a sentient being in a body touched with the grace of belonging.
The sun beats on my skin and the heat is terrible, but the wind lays a cool hand upon me, the caress of a lover. If it rains, I am soaked through and cold; then the sun returns to warm me this time like a welcome fire, and the cycle is complete.
The elements are my lover. I press my body into the sand ...
There is no word for my state of grace on the island; we invented the word for time, and in so doing, invented time itself and lost that state of grace."
On the surface, this reads a bit like the movie Cast Away - if the main character were the famous Amelia Earhart but, unlike Tom Hanks, never rescued. Instead, a sailboat carrying a modern-day couple is marooned on the island during a storm, and Amelia must decide whether or not she even wants to engage with them, let alone return to the mainland if and when their boat is repaired, given she has lived in solitude for 40 years.
I love the interchange between the inner thoughts and fears of the modern-day couple, who represent the frantic pace of our busy lives where we have little time to commune with nature or our inner souls, and Amelia, who has become one with the island/with nature and her innermost self, to the point where solitude is no longer lonely but tranquil.
Here are a few passages I really enjoyed that express the deeper meaning of this work:
[Lucy upon being stranded on the deserted island while her husband tries to repair the engine]
"... She misses the city, civilization, being part of a great cultural connectedness. Her spirit is no longer lively with ideas and expectations, challenged and growing.
Yet if she were in the city, would she not be longing for precisely this - the peace, the solitude, the tropical paradise? Is there not an entire industry based on the exploitation of people's frustrations and on the absurdity of workaday lives made meaningful by two-week budget holidays? But of course, such paradises are often replications of city life: crowds, high-rise hotels, organized leisure, rampant consumerism in the form of useless souvenirs - illusions, carefully packaged and marketed."
[Amelia] "But by staying here, there is no old woman. There are no wrinkles, no lines, no sad wasting of the flesh. No judgment, no pity, no indifference. I see only a sentient being in a body touched with the grace of belonging.
The sun beats on my skin and the heat is terrible, but the wind lays a cool hand upon me, the caress of a lover. If it rains, I am soaked through and cold; then the sun returns to warm me this time like a welcome fire, and the cycle is complete.
The elements are my lover. I press my body into the sand ...
There is no word for my state of grace on the island; we invented the word for time, and in so doing, invented time itself and lost that state of grace."
May 8, 2020
I liked this book, because of the writing, because of the characters who seemed believable, because of the climate, on a day our weather is cold and windy. It tookm me a while to figure out what characcter the bookm might be postulating about.
This book is old and has not been reprinted in quite awhile.
Amazon:When a near shipwreck strands a young couple on an uncharted island in the Pacific, they encounter a mysterious woman who may or may not be the legendary aviator Amelia Earhart but who has been stranded on the remote strip of land for more than forty years.
In 1937, aviatrix Amelia Earhart disappeared with her navigator, Fred Noonan, somewhere in the South Pacific while attempting a circumnavigation of the globe. The mystery of Earhart's fate has captured the public's imagination for decades. Did she perish when her plane hit the water? Was she captured by the Japanese and executed as a spy? Was she abducted by space aliens? Is she living in Idaho with Elvis?
The premise of Alison Anderson's novel HIDDEN LATITUDES, which is set in1979, is that Amelia has survived 42 years as a castaway on a tiny Pacific atoll, the last 40 alone. Then one day, a 35-foot sailboat, the "Stowaway", with husband Robin and wife Lucy aboard, anchors in the island's lagoon, her engine kaput and her hull reef damaged. Might this be Earhart's ride home?
In chapters that alternate between the "voice" of Amelia and those of her might-be rescuers, the author explores the loneliness that derives from complete isolation from the world as compared with that despairing aloneness which grips the partners in a failing marriage. Earhart has become so accustomed to solitary life on her little island that she hesitates to reveal her presence to Robin and Lucy, whose marital difficulties are only exacerbated by their present crisis. At 82, Amelia wonders what would be gained by returning to a world that would regard her as an historical curiosity, soon to become nothing but an aged crony. Being young and not realizing the value of what they have together, Robin and Lucy internally contemplate the possibility of separation once they get back to "civilization".
I liked HIDDEN LATITUDES insofar as the poignancy of Anderson's plot resides almost solely in the Earhart character as she "remembers" for the reader the significant events of her life since she and Fred lost their way, including two near-rescues snatched away early on by cruel Fate. To this extent, Anderson has crafted an imaginatively satisfying "what if" scenario. On the other hand, the Robin and Lucy characters become so caught up in their dysfunctional behavior while struggling to make their boat seaworthy that they approach dangerously close to becoming tiresome. They're so self-absorbed in their own bickering that they fail for too long to follow up on clues that another human is present on this "deserted" island. You want to yell at them, "Snap out of it. Look around you!"
At one point, Amelia sneaks a book from the "Stowaway":
This book is old and has not been reprinted in quite awhile.
Amazon:When a near shipwreck strands a young couple on an uncharted island in the Pacific, they encounter a mysterious woman who may or may not be the legendary aviator Amelia Earhart but who has been stranded on the remote strip of land for more than forty years.
In 1937, aviatrix Amelia Earhart disappeared with her navigator, Fred Noonan, somewhere in the South Pacific while attempting a circumnavigation of the globe. The mystery of Earhart's fate has captured the public's imagination for decades. Did she perish when her plane hit the water? Was she captured by the Japanese and executed as a spy? Was she abducted by space aliens? Is she living in Idaho with Elvis?
The premise of Alison Anderson's novel HIDDEN LATITUDES, which is set in1979, is that Amelia has survived 42 years as a castaway on a tiny Pacific atoll, the last 40 alone. Then one day, a 35-foot sailboat, the "Stowaway", with husband Robin and wife Lucy aboard, anchors in the island's lagoon, her engine kaput and her hull reef damaged. Might this be Earhart's ride home?
In chapters that alternate between the "voice" of Amelia and those of her might-be rescuers, the author explores the loneliness that derives from complete isolation from the world as compared with that despairing aloneness which grips the partners in a failing marriage. Earhart has become so accustomed to solitary life on her little island that she hesitates to reveal her presence to Robin and Lucy, whose marital difficulties are only exacerbated by their present crisis. At 82, Amelia wonders what would be gained by returning to a world that would regard her as an historical curiosity, soon to become nothing but an aged crony. Being young and not realizing the value of what they have together, Robin and Lucy internally contemplate the possibility of separation once they get back to "civilization".
I liked HIDDEN LATITUDES insofar as the poignancy of Anderson's plot resides almost solely in the Earhart character as she "remembers" for the reader the significant events of her life since she and Fred lost their way, including two near-rescues snatched away early on by cruel Fate. To this extent, Anderson has crafted an imaginatively satisfying "what if" scenario. On the other hand, the Robin and Lucy characters become so caught up in their dysfunctional behavior while struggling to make their boat seaworthy that they approach dangerously close to becoming tiresome. They're so self-absorbed in their own bickering that they fail for too long to follow up on clues that another human is present on this "deserted" island. You want to yell at them, "Snap out of it. Look around you!"
At one point, Amelia sneaks a book from the "Stowaway":
September 13, 2019
I loved The Summer Guest by Alison Anderson which sent me in seach of the author's backlist. This book is a gem. The premise is fascinating and the writing beautiful. It's such an original and thought-provoking novel about our relationship with nature & society and with each other. A story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Takes the reader far into 'what if' territory. Deeply empathetic and imaginative writing. And wise.
January 8, 2024
[4+] Contemplative and poetic, Hidden Latitudes is both a love story and an exploration of what is important in life. A sticker on my book says "A Novel about Amelia Earhart," which feels inaccurate. It is a reimagining of the aftermath of Earhart's famous last flight - but is much deeper and more thought-provoking than simply an alternate history.
Earhart is stranded on a desert island for over 40 years when a couple's sailboat gets stuck on the island's reef. The conflicts between Lucy and Robin and her potential discovery add a layer of suspense. An exquisite and thought-provoking novel which is also hard to put down!
Earhart is stranded on a desert island for over 40 years when a couple's sailboat gets stuck on the island's reef. The conflicts between Lucy and Robin and her potential discovery add a layer of suspense. An exquisite and thought-provoking novel which is also hard to put down!
January 30, 2021
"It meant that, like the rare flies that escape the web, they could break free of the spun illusions of middle-class life: house, car, television, bank account, jobs whose non-financial meaningfulness had long ago worn thin. ... Palm trees, Gauguin, crystal lagoons ... Solitude and finding oneself; a different and, they hoped, simpler way of life."
Too bad Lucy and Robin are annoying, shallow, and ultimately boring characters who, once landing in this paradise, spend the entire time fighting with each other and themselves and desperately searching for a way back into their web. Meanwhile the mysterious main character has woven her own little web right there in paradise.
Too bad Lucy and Robin are annoying, shallow, and ultimately boring characters who, once landing in this paradise, spend the entire time fighting with each other and themselves and desperately searching for a way back into their web. Meanwhile the mysterious main character has woven her own little web right there in paradise.
August 15, 2012
A couple sailing around the world need to stop for engine repairs before negotiating a reef bound harbor. However, there's a slight error in their readings and they end up at an uncharted island. Coincidentally the same island that is home to a women who's been living there since she washed ashore after her plane crashed 40 years earlier. This is a fantastic speculation on what may have been Amelia Earhart's life (with Fred) after she disappeared.
But the book does not stop at this. The couple on the sailboat have a lot to learn about themselves and each other. Though this is an interesting story in and of itself, what fascinated me most, having just "got off the boat" myself, is how incredibly true the live-aboard experience reads.
The author only does one strange thing that would have been better left unsaid -- she adds an afterward that this may or may not be Amelia Earhart in the story, it is up to us, the reader, to decide. Of course it is. This is fiction. If they ever republish this book I would hope that they would leave this tidbit of information out as it serves no necessary purpose outside of irriating the reader, who up until that point is quite content with the novel.
But the book does not stop at this. The couple on the sailboat have a lot to learn about themselves and each other. Though this is an interesting story in and of itself, what fascinated me most, having just "got off the boat" myself, is how incredibly true the live-aboard experience reads.
The author only does one strange thing that would have been better left unsaid -- she adds an afterward that this may or may not be Amelia Earhart in the story, it is up to us, the reader, to decide. Of course it is. This is fiction. If they ever republish this book I would hope that they would leave this tidbit of information out as it serves no necessary purpose outside of irriating the reader, who up until that point is quite content with the novel.
November 18, 2016
A very different type of novel with the premise that it is Amelia Earhart's voice 40+ years after her disappearance in 1937.
Told in first person narrative, Earhart is a castaway on a tiny, unnamed atoll in the South Pacific. A 36-foot sailboat with engine trouble appears on the horizon and is damaged on the coral reef protecting the sheltered lagoon, and Earhart becomes both observer and spinner of the tale of her own arrival, survival, and history on the island. The reader sees the silent and secret interplay among Earhart, the unnamed watcher, and the somber and splintered relationship between Lucy and Robin, the young married sailing adventurers lost in the island of the Pacific in 1979 or later.
Anderson writes lyrically and poetically, and the focus is on language, the environment of the island, and solitude. The natural world is a character throughout, and the conflict between lovers and between fear, death, and life drives the plot; this is a slow-moving novel with a spiritual message.
Told in first person narrative, Earhart is a castaway on a tiny, unnamed atoll in the South Pacific. A 36-foot sailboat with engine trouble appears on the horizon and is damaged on the coral reef protecting the sheltered lagoon, and Earhart becomes both observer and spinner of the tale of her own arrival, survival, and history on the island. The reader sees the silent and secret interplay among Earhart, the unnamed watcher, and the somber and splintered relationship between Lucy and Robin, the young married sailing adventurers lost in the island of the Pacific in 1979 or later.
Anderson writes lyrically and poetically, and the focus is on language, the environment of the island, and solitude. The natural world is a character throughout, and the conflict between lovers and between fear, death, and life drives the plot; this is a slow-moving novel with a spiritual message.
August 26, 2011
I would give this book a higher rating without the sudden appearance of a word I am really trying to avoid in books cropping up towards the middle. I've kept several quotes from the book and liked the pull back and forth between "solitude and companionship, nature and civilization". The author theorizes that Amelia Erhart ended up as a castaway on a tiny atoll in the Pacific Ocean in 1937. A couple, sailing around the world in 1977, end up on the same atoll for a few weeks and the castaway debates between remaining in the idyllic world she has made or returning to all the ambiguities of civilized life. I thought at first that it was a given that she would rather get back into life but she had me convinced of her reluctance to do that by the end of the book.
January 3, 2014
"No man is an island." Indeed. Profound questions relating to man's essential interdependence and at times, his fierce sense of loneliness and alienation are explored in this haunting tale. The story is riveting but it is not so much an imaginary version of Amelia Earhart's destiny as it is an exploration of the human condition, the petty divisions which come between men and their spouses, friends and their closest buddies - and the ultimate quest for fulfillment which enables one to forge ahead. The lyrical prose and the interior monologues made me feel like I was immersed in the world of Virginia Woolf.
May 22, 2012
And what of it? What if Amelia Earhart lived forty plus years beyond 1937...and survived as a lonely outcast on an uncharted South Pacific atoll? Anderson creates a spare fiction full of promise, voice and vision. Hidden Latitudes is that magical type of rare book that you never want to finish or put down. You want to linger there...steeped in the cocooon that shelters the spirit and voice of Earhart. It's a lovely read, with spare, evocative prose, a prose poem to memory, civilization and nature.
May 24, 2013
Anderson unfortunately has had only two novels published - this and Darwyn's Wink. Her books have intellectual heft and good plots. But what makes them outstanding is the prose. The word 'prose' somehow isn't adequate to describe how Anderson writes. It's more like poetry - there is a rhythm and cadence to her writing that is amazing. You can pick up a similar cadence in "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" which she translated. It just floats you along. Great stuff!
September 25, 2014
A novel with Amelia Earhart as it's long lost heroine, living alone on a desert island, who observes a young couple in conflict as they run adrift while sailing around the world? Sounds promising. The parts about Amelia and how she came to be there and how she lives in solitude while observing the stranded couple are what kept me reading. The other section of the book, that of the eternally agonizing couple who can't seem to communicate with each other just wore on my nerves a bit.
August 15, 2014
I thought about calling this historical fiction, because the shipwrecked character clearly is meant to be Amelia Earhart, an identification the author disavows, wishing to leave it to the reader. Oh please. Don't write such lovely prose and then pretend its not the character you wish us to believe it is.
April 28, 2013
Very haunting story about our connections to ourselves, each other, civilization and nature. What price would you pay for true freedom? And does the very act of loving another person force us to compromise our own true selves? This book asks those questions and many more. Be prepared to ponder.
November 18, 2013
This story, an alternative to the presumed death of Amelia Earhart, has her surviving and sharing her luminous insights from her 40 years of solitude on a tropical island. The author keeps it grounded, however, and it fascinates to the end!
August 27, 2009
I've had this book for several years and while cleaning out my bookshelf I decided to read this. What a good litle novel. Very sad, very sweet, and thoughprovoking.
December 10, 2009
Another imagined ending for Amelia Earhart. It was okay, but could have been better.
May 23, 2010
"Changes in latitude, changes in attitude" (to quote a song). This is more about interpersonal relationships than about wilderness survival.
July 7, 2010
It was okay. Not what I expected, but worth reading.
February 9, 2013
We are a sailing couple, so whenever I see a novel with sailing, I pick it up to read. I enjoyed this one. Not great, but a really good read.
May 30, 2011
Such a great idea for a story - just didn't deliver.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews