In Greenland, Donaldson reworks 'only connect' to be a paean to self-connection, the integration of ambivalent identities into something like a wryly formed human being for our time.' - NPR's Fresh Air

'Only connect' is, of course, Forster's famous epigram from Howard's End, a poignant, at times desperate plea for connection among people who are as much mysteries to themselves as to others. ' Greenland is a smart, exhilarating novel about racism and self-knowledge. Greenland seamlessly conjures two distinct yet overlapping worlds where the past mirrors the present, and the artist’s journey transforms into a quest for truth that offers a world of possibility.Įlectric and unforgettable, David Santos Donaldson’s tour de force excavates the dream of white assimilation, the foibles of interracial relationships, and not only the legacy of a literary giant, but literature itself. As Kip immerses himself in his writing, Mohammed’s story – and then Mohammed himself – begins to speak to him, and his life becomes a Proustian portal into Kip's own memories and psyche. Both of their lives have been deeply affected by their confrontations with Whiteness, homophobia, their upper crust education, and their white romantic partners. Kip has only three weeks until his publisher’s deadline to immerse himself in the mind of Mohammed who, like Kip, is Black, queer, an Other. A century later, Kip Starling has locked himself in his Brooklyn basement study with a pistol and twenty-one gallons of Poland Spring to write Mohammed’s story. Forster, spent six months in a jail cell. In 1919, Mohammed el Adl, the young Egyptian lover of British author E. Forster and Mohammed el Adl-in which Mohammed’s story collides with his own, blending fact and fiction. Shortlisted for the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in FictionĪ dazzling, debut novel-within-a-novel in the vein of The Prophets and Memorial, about a young author writing about the secret love affair between E.M.

David santos donaldson greenland