Polar Vortex

By Shani Mootoo

Finalist for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize

Some secrets never die…

Priya and Alexandra have moved from the city to a picturesque countryside town. What Alex doesn't know is that in moving, Priya is running from her past—from a fraught relationship with an old friend, Prakash, who pursued her for many years, both online and off. Time has passed, however, and Priya, confident that her ties to Prakash have been successfully severed, decides it’s once more safe to establish an online presence. In no time, Prakash discovers Priya online and contacts her. Impulsively, inexplicably, Priya invites him to visit her and Alex in the country, without ever having come clean with Alex about their relationship—or its tumultuous end. Prakash's sudden arrival at their home reveals cracks in Priya and Alex's relationship and brings into question Priya's true intentions.

Seductive and tension-filled, Polar Vortex is a story of secrets, deceptions, and revenge. It asks readers: Are we ever free from our pasts? Do we deserve to be?

2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize Jury Citation:

"A keen meditation on the complexities of identity and desire, Polar Vortex is the unsettling examination of a failing marriage. In a small, southern Ontario town, Priya impulsively invites an old suitor, Prakash, to spend the night and his arrival triggers the fault lines in her relationship with Alexandra. Conflicting wants and untold truths drag the past into the present. Memories cascade and clash as Mootoo masterfully dismantles the stories the narrators tell themselves in language as unsparing as winter."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bookhug Press
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781771665650

Shani Mootoo

SHANI MOOTOO is a novelist, poet, and visual artist. Her novels include Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab, long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and short-listed for a Lambda Literary Award; Valmiki's Daughter, long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; He Drown She in the Sea, long-listed for the Dublin IMPAC Award; and Cereus Blooms at Night, short-listed for several prizes including the Giller Prize, and long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. In 2020 Mootoo received an honorary doctorate of letters from Western University, Canada. She is also a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Literature, the Chalmers Arts Fellowship, and the Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize.

Reviews for Polar Vortex

[lesliewilding-774028 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Coming from a heterosexual woman, I’m not sure my review would be considered legitimate by a homosexual woman! The writing is superb and the characters became very real. The story is heartbreaking on multiple levels; yet I’m left wondering if the emotional struggles these characters endured are universal or specific to these 3 individuals in this particular situation.

[psychomamma · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I got this book free from Library Thing's early reviewers program. I read it in an afternoon, but really liked it. It's a story about a lesbian couple living on a rather remote island, and one of them has an old (male) friend come to visit for a day. The book takes place all on the same day; the characters were great, plus I learned a lot about Idi Amin and what happened in Uganda in the 70's.

[basilsbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'd like to read more by this author and will be keeping tabs. I am reading this along with a friend that also received a copy, we are not so far through it but we are both greatly engrossed

[seongeona · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

First person narrative, lots of angst-ridden inner dialogue, more like an overly drawn-out short story. Nothing surprising here for me, but might appeal to a younger reader of a background similar to the main character. Didn't feel a connection to or resonance with the characters or storyline, and didn't care for Prakash at all. Fairly graphic hetero sex throughout. **I received my ARC from the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review.