In 1971, a pregnant young woman, ill at ease with her socially superior husband and his stepchildren, hears of a Tierra del Fuegan taken hostage by the commander of the Beagle in 1835. In 1862, a hopeless naturalist heads off for yet another journey, though he can't seem to rid his conscience of the thousands of animals that have already died in his service. But they must be patient and experiment in secret, such actions being inappropriate for the female of the species. In 1764, two Englishwomen set out to prove that swallows-contrary to the great Linnaeus's belief-do not hibernate underwater. As they move between interior and exterior journeys, 'science is transformed from hard and known fact into malleable, strange and thrilling fictional material' ( Boston Globe). In the tradition of Alice Munro and William Trevor, these exquisitely rendered fictions encompass whole lives in a brief space. And in 'The Littoral Zone,' two marine biologists wonder whether their life-altering affair finally was worth it. In 'The English Pupil,' Linnaeus, in old age, watches as the world he organized within his head slowly drifts beyond his reach. In 'Ship Fever,' the title novella, a young Canadian doctor finds himself at the center of one of history's most tragic epidemics. Interweaving historical and fictional characters, they encompass both past and present as they negotiate the complex territory of ambition, failure, achievement, and shattered dreams. The elegant short fictions gathered hereabout the love of science and the science of love are often set against the backdrop of the nineteenth century. 1996 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.

Ship fever and other stories