Polar Vortex

A novel reminiscent of the works of Herman Koch and Rachel Cusk, in which a lesbian couple attempts to escape the secrets of their pasts. Shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize! A Globe & Mail Best Book of 2020 One of Autostraddle's Best Queer Books of 2020 Shortlisted for the 2020 Caribbean Readers’ Awards (Best Adult Novel)! "Shani Mootoo is one of the towering lesbian novelists of our time...Polar Vortex [is] a jewel in an already extraordinary creative life. Mootoo’s powerful capacity capture of people and their inner vulnerabilities and longings in her novels make them compelling reads.” --Autostraddle “With grace and dexterity, Polar Vortex maps the interiority of middle age lesbians and the complex and fraught intimate dances of couples...Here is a writer at the full height of her power asking vital, important questions rendered beautifully through character, setting, and plot. Here is a writer demonstrating with passion and power the importance of art to understanding the world. What pleasure!” --Lambda Literary "The action is dramatic, but it could only be surprising to someone who hasn’t noticed the accumulation of clues. There is violence and betrayal, but the characters are so sympathetically drawn that no one emerges as a villain or a stereotype...The structuring of the plot as a series of scenes gives this novel a steady momentum. Polar Vortex is a cautionary tale for adults." --The Gay & Lesbian Review ”A lesbian couple, together six years, move from Toronto to a home in an isolated island community. Priya is an artist, from an Indian family in the West Indies, Alex a writer and native Canadian. But there’s a third presence, Prakash, a Ugandan Indian whose family fled Amin and settled in Canada, who Priya met at university. Priya had turned him down as a suitor years ago, but now he has found her new location, and Priya has invited him for a weekend. Alex seems unduly displeased, but as the story unfolds through Priya’s voice, the balance tips. Priya’s story is more complex than she has shared with Alex; Prakash may have darker intentions for his visit, while Alex herself has secrets of her own.” --Lavender Magazine "A suspenseful story of desire, secrets, and an unexpected love triangle.” --Trinidad & Tobago Express “The story is tense and on every page tension rises. Yet even while sitting on the edge of my chair, I could not stop reading. In fact, I am still thinking about what I read a week later. Mootoo mixes two genres--psychological thriller and literary fiction--as she delves into the nature of queer sexuality and identity, immigrant experiences and the results of sexism, racism, and homophobia on LGBT women of color.” --Reviews by Amos Lassen Polar Vortex is a seductive and tension-filled novel about Priya and Alex, a lesbian couple who left the big city to relocate to a bucolic countryside community. It seemed like a good way to leave their past behind and cement their newish, later-in-life relationship. But there's leaving the past behind--and then there's running away from awkward histories. Priya has a secret--a long-standing, on-again, off-again relationship with a man, Prakash. In Priya's mind Prakash is little more than an old friend, but in reality things are a bit complicated. Why has she never told Alex about him? Prakash has tracked Priya down in her new life, and before she realizes what she's doing, she invites him to visit. Alex is not pleased, and soon the existing cracks in their relationship widen, revealing secrets Alex herself would have preferred to keep. Into the fissure walks Prakash, whose own agenda forces all three to face the inevitable consequences of their choices.

A flight disappears over the North Pole. No distress calls. Vanished into thin air. Mitch Matthews is a writer struggling to make ends meet when his wife's brother Josh offers them a first-class seat on a flight from Hong Kong to New York. When his wife needs to stay behind, it becomes an opportunity for some quality daddy-daughter time with his five-year-old Lilly. At check-in, they run into a strange Norwegian arguing with a huge Russian. A mysterious redhead is guarding a package in the business lounge. But everything is fine... Right up until... Within hours of Allied Airlines 695 disappearing, a massive international search is launched. Aircraft and ships are dispatched from Russia, America, Canada and Norway... How can a modern airliner simply vanish in one of the most heavily monitored places on Earth? Right in the middle of an area overflown by dozens of satellites from as many nations, ringed by Cold War-era radar and missile installations? Global tensions rise. The media and grieving families whip into a frenzy. The armed forces of America and Russia tip the world toward the brink of apocalyptic war. Weeks later. Found on the ice. A chance discovery. The journal of Mitch Matthews reveals the incredible truth behind the disappearance of Allied 695, and what really happened in... ...the Polar Vortex.

This book relays the factual details of the 2014 polar vortex and climate change through three different perspectives. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details through the point of view of a college student, New Yorker, and coal miner. The text offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives while gathering and analyzing information about a modern event. Content focuses on point-of-view and encourages readers to understand how background and experience can lead to differing views.

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 190. The Stratosphere: Dynamics, Transport, and Chemistry is the first volume in 20 years that offers a comprehensive review of the Earth's stratosphere, increasingly recognized as an important component of the climate system. The volume addresses key advances in our understanding of the stratospheric circulation and transport and summarizes the last two decades of research to provide a concise yet comprehensive overview of the state of the field. This monograph reviews many important aspects of the dynamics, transport, and chemistry of the stratosphere by some of the world's leading experts, including up-to-date discussions of Dynamics of stratospheric polar vortices Chemistry and dynamics of the ozone hole Role of solar variability in the stratosphere Effect of gravity waves in the stratosphere Importance of atmospheric annular modes This volume will be of interest to graduate students and scientists who wish to learn more about the stratosphere. It will also be useful to atmospheric science departments as a textbook for classes on the stratosphere.

Learn the science behind weather and weather prediction in this clear and straightforward new guide. Weather is everywhere, and while it’s typically not thought about most of the time, it can get everyone’s attention in an instant—whether it’s the swirling destruction of a tornado, the wreckage from a hurricane, or the havoc of climate change on the environment. Weather 101 gives you the basics on weather, from blue skies to hail to dust storms, with information on the science of how weather works, how to predict the weather in your area, how to be ready for natural disasters, and how climate change is affecting weather patterns across the world. With this guide, you’ll be a weather expert in no time!

For over a decade, Julie Lalonde, an award-winning advocate for women’s rights, kept a secret. She crisscrossed the country, denouncing violence against women and giving hundreds of media interviews along the way. Her work made national headlines for challenging universities and taking on Canada’s top military brass. Appearing fearless on the surface, Julie met every interview and event with the same fear in her gut: was he there? Fleeing intimate partner violence at age 20, Julie was stalked by her ex-partner for over ten years, rarely mentioning it to friends, let alone addressing it publicly. The contrast between her public career as a brave champion for women with her own private life of violence and fear meant a shaky and exhausting balancing act. Resilience sounds like a positive thing, so why do we often use it against women? Tenacity and bravery might help us survive unimaginable horrors, but where are the spaces for anger and vulnerability? Resilience is Futile is a story of survival, courage and ultimately, hope. But it’s also a challenge to the ways we understand trauma and resilience. It’s the story of one survivor who won’t give up and refuses to shut up.

Ciel is excited to start high school. A gender non-conforming trans kid, Ciel has a YouTube channel and dreams of getting a better camera to really make their mark. Ciel can always rely on their best friend, Stephie, a trans girl who also happens to be a huge nerd. But their friendship begins to feel distant when Stephie makes it clear she wants the fact that she’s trans to be less visible now that they’re in high school. While navigating this new dynamic with Stephie, Ciel is also trying to make a long-distance relationship work with their boyfriend Eiríkur, who just moved back to Iceland. Add to the mix a cute swim star named Liam, and Ciel’s life is becoming more complicated by the minute!

Short-listed for the Lambda Literary Award from the author of Cereus Blooms at Night. “A fascinating premise that gives voice to the queer-identified” (The Globe and Mail, Toronto). Jonathan Lewis-Adey was nine when his parents separated, and his mother, Sid, vanished entirely from his life. It is not until he is a grown man that Jonathan finally reconnects with his beloved lost parent, only to find, to his shock and dismay, that the woman he knew as “Sid” in Toronto has become an elegant man named Sydney living in his native Trinidad. For nine years, Jonathan has paid regular visits to Sydney on his island retreat, trying with quiet desperation to rediscover the parent he adored inside this familiar stranger, and to overcome his lingering confusion and anger at the choices Sydney has made. At the novel’s opening, Jonathan is summoned urgently to Trinidad where Sydney, now aged and dying, seems at last to offer him the gift he longs for: a winding story that moves forward sideways as it reveals the truths of Sydney’s life. But when and where the story will end is up to Jonathan, and it is he who must decide what to do with Sydney’s haunting legacy of love, loss, and acceptance. “The novel’s evocation of the light and sights of Trinidad, its tropical over-ripeness and the scary suddenness of night’s onset, are vivid. But most vivid of all is the sensitive, wise Sid/Syd, whose tragedy is to never have been loved the way she/he deserved.” —Toronto Star “Mootoo’s character-driven novel is rich in setting and slow in pace, inviting the reader to linger over its closely observed details.” —Booklist