The Moonday Letters

by Emmi Itäranta

Overview

An effortlessly rich and lyrical mystery wrapped in a love story that bends space, time, myth and science, perfect for fans of Octavia Butler and Emily St. John Mandel.

Sol has disappeared. Their Earth-born wife Lumi sets out to find them but it is no simple feat: each clue uncovers another enigma. Their disappearance leads back to underground environmental groups and a web of mystery that spans the space between the planets themselves.
 
Told through letters and extracts, the course of Lumi’s journey takes her not only from the affluent colonies of Mars to the devastated remnants of Earth, but into the hidden depths of Sol’s past and the long-forgotten secrets of her own.
 
Part space-age epistolary, part eco-thriller, and a love story between two individuals from very different worlds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781803360454
Publisher:	Titan
Publication date:	07/19/2022
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	787,864
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Emmi Itäranta’s writing has been compared to that of Ursula K. Le Guin, and her first novel, Memory of Water, has been translated into 21 languages and was also nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award recognizing the best science fiction novel published in the UK in 2014, and the Golden Tentacle award. In addition, Itäranta has been included on the Honor List of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. She tweets @emmi_elina
 

Editorial Reviews

05/09/2022

The contemplative latest from Finnish author Itäranta (Memory of Water) eloquently demonstrates how deeply people need love even—or especially—in the presence of death. The story is largely told through hopeful letters addressed to missing ethnobotanist Sol Uriarte by their spouse, Lumi Salo. Sol’s science-based worldview might seem incompatible with healer Lumi’s spiritual awareness of other worlds, but both yearn for each other. Both are also disturbed by how the human colonists on Mars and Earth’s other extensions are shunning refugees from humanity’s dreadfully polluted home planet. Now Luni suspects that Sol may have been seduced by the Stoneturners, an environmental terrorist organization willing to risk unleashing a biological attack that will either save life on Earth or end it once and for all. A desperate Luni forces her most precious tool as a healer—her soul-animal, capable of traversing worlds—into a dangerous, otherworldly mission to trace Sol in hopes that the two can reunite in Moonday House, the psychic retreat that they’ve imagined together. Itäranta accomplishes an impressive amount of worldbuilding in Lumi’s letters and makes her longing for her soulmate palpable. The result is a quietly powerful meditation on the human need to share life and love with others. (July)

Publishers Weekly

PRAISE FOR THE MOONDAY LETTERS

“Emily St. John Mandel’s century-spanning novella, Sea of Tranquility, and Emmi Itäranta’s recently released epistolary collage novel The Moonday Letters—both of which feature utopian Moon colonies that aren’t entirely what they same, and both of which are as dreamy and mysterious and nearly impossible to pin down as Moonhaven remains through its own short first season.” – Paste Magazine mention
 
“A lyrical epistolatory novel of longing and hope.” – SF in Translation review

Emmi Itaranta’s semi-mystical cosmology is captivating. – The Times Review


[The Moonday Letters] is a thrill ride… Itäranta cuts a diagonal swathe across Kim Stanley Robinson, Carlos Castaneda and Philip Pullman… Itäranta’s book does what solarpunk should do: it presents a bold vision, with a road map, and, crucially, it clarifies what hope is and what it can do. – New Scientist Review


The story ultimately really pulled on my heartstrings, and I found myself wholly invested in the outcome for Lumi and Sol. – It Starts at Midnight Review


The prose and worldbuilding were immaculate… Itäranta knows just the right words to bring her world to life. – The Fiction Fox Review


I thoroughly enjoyed The Moonday Letters. I was charmed by Lumi’s imagination and capacity for forgiveness; delighted by her prickly sister-in-law; amused by her feline companion. There’s a lot to unpack from its mythical parallels to its themes of immigration, activism, love and forgiveness… A rewarding read. – One More Review


Refreshing… The parts with encyclopaedic entries and newspaper quotes reminded me of Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. Overall a very interesting read I would recommend. – Lovely Book Review


It’s impossible not to be enchanted by the sentences and the world-building in this novel..There’s a description of the society on Europa that I am still thinking about, and when I do my heart skips a beat and my breath catches. The way magic and science interact is great and like nothing I’ve read since This is How You Lose the Time War. – Going for Baroque Review


One of the book gems that allows a reader to truly feel an experience and be in someone else's shoes..I really want to read Emmi Itäranta's other books now! – Library Thing Review


"The Moonday Letters is a thing entirely its own, full of melancholy, a sense of wonder and hope. It takes you on a shamanistic journey to a living and breathing future, carried by a mystery that slowly unravels. Itäranta is a compelling narrator who also knows when to pause to conjure stunning images with her always confident, exquisitely polished prose." – Hannu Rajaniemi, author of The Quantum Thief and Summerland

"The Moonday Letters ticks all the boxes for me. The solitary vastness of interplanetary space entwines with myths and mysteries of the ancient North; a personal tragedy interacts elegantly with the enormous ecological challenges of the future; and through the whole enchanting story echoes Itäranta’s exquisite, poetic, visionary writer’s voice." - Johanna Sinisalo, author of The Storm Flute and Strangers Inside

"A quietly powerful meditation on the human need to share life and love with others." -Publishers Weekly

"The Moonday Letters wraps a lament for Earth’s damaged ecosystems into the story of lovers at an interplanetary crossroads...[A] lovely, and alarming tale about humanity in crisis" -Foreword Magazine Starred Review


PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR

"(A) poetic and melancholy debut." - Guardian

"Itäranta’s lyrical style makes this dystopian tale a beautiful exploration of environmental ethics and the power of ritual." - Washington Post

"Gorgeous and delicate." - Library Journal, starred review

"Itäranta’s steady piling on of pressure on her protagonist grips, even as her prose soothes." - SFX

"Where Itäranta shines is in her understated but compelling characters." - Red Star Review, Publishers Weekly

"Brilliant, lyrical prose." - Tor.com

"The Moonday Letters wraps a lament for Earth’s damaged ecosystems into the story of lovers at an interplanetary crossroads... [A] lovely, and alarming tale about humanity in crisis"
– Foreword Magazine Starred Review

From the Publisher