The Second Life of Samuel Tyne by Esi Edugyan

The Second Life of Samuel Tyne by Esi Edugyan

The first novel from the acclaimed author of Washington Black--an exploration of explores the sweep of history, the binds of blood, the challenges of middle age, and the pain of exile, witnessed through the experiences of one family whose hope blinds them to threatening forces that could tear them apart. 

It is 1968 and Samuel Tyne has lived in exile in the chaotic New World for more than a dozen years. Born in Ghana, educated at Oxford, Samuel was expected to accomplish great things. But the middling government employee fears he has fallen short of that promise. When he inherits a crumbling mansion in the small, provincial town of Aster, Canada, he packs up his protesting family, believing that he has been offered a fabled second chance--and this time, he will not fail.

An all-white enclave that was originally settled by freed slaves and runaways from America, the idyllic Aster feels like a miracle. But as time passes, Samuel begins to see the town is not the haven he hoped: riven by political infighting, a community resistant to change, and most disturbing, a number of mysterious fires that have put the townsfolk on edge. His family, too, begins to splinter. Stubbornly clinging to his ambitious dreams, Samuel finds the successful life he's struggled to build is disintegrating around him, and a dark current of menace in the town is turned upon his family--that they may be too powerless to fight.

Esi Edugyan graduated from Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars with a master's degree in writing. Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including Joyce Carol Oates' Best New American Voices 2003 and Revival: An Anthology of Black Canadian Literature (2006). The Second Life of Samuel Tyne, her debut novel, was published worldwide. It was a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee, a More Book Lust selection, and a New York Public Library selection for 2004's Books to Remember. Her novel Half-Blood Blues won the Scotiabank Giller Award and was a Man Booker Prize nominee in 2011.

Fellowships have been awarded to Edugyan in the United States, Scotland, Iceland, Germany, Hungary, Finland, Spain, and Belgium. She has taught creative writing at the University of Victoria and Johns Hopkins University. She is currently based in Victoria, British Columbia.