Undercurrents: A Novel

Undercurrents, the debut novel from fourth-generation Montanan, Joan Maki, steps through forest doorways and crosses rivers into twilight’s thresholds to dissect the emotional and psychological aftermath of Kit in the wake of the mysterious disappearance of Patrick, a childhood friend who vanished so suddenly it was as if he fell into the Earth. Decades after this incident, Kit escapes her rural Montana upbringing for a new life in the city, but her disjointed memories and the questions she has had to carry bind her to her past. Was Patrick claimed by natural forces, falling into the river or a ravine? Was his estranged father involved? Or, as old Marg believes, was the boy claimed by the people of the forest? Will Kit be able to find closure as she raises her own child and is inevitably drawn back toward the woods of home?

Imbued with elements of Finnish folklore, Undercurrents charts the liminal destruction of society and self, where wild and rural places are encroached upon by more contemporary forces. Like a story written on a warped mirror, Undercurrents presents a calm surface slightly askew, and definitely dangerous, where mind, lore, religion, and reality collide in uncanny reflections.

Joan Maki was raised on a fourth-generation farm in
western Montana. She holds an MFA in
Creative Writing from The University of Montana in Missoula. She has an affinity for open spaces, dark
nights, back roads, and forests. She
lives in western Montana with her family.
This is her first novel.