An Upside-Down Sky: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Description

When Lidia, a blocked Latinx artist in her sixties, goes on a group tour of Namyan, a fictional Southeast Asian country reopened to the world after a long dictatorship, she gets much more than the vacation she thinks shes signed on for. Against a backdrop of pagodas and enigmatic customs, she and the disparate crew of eighteen Americans on the tour encounter one adventure after anotherexperiences that challenge their assumptions about their host countrys placid surface of beautiful pagodas and wandering Buddhist monks. Along the way, Lidia finds companionship and sexual pleasure with Haynes, a Black man seeking adventureeven dangerin Namyan. On a nighttime excursion among mysterious ancient buildings, they watch the nighttime sky. Lidia remarks that the stars look upside down a metaphor for Namyan as a foreign place and for her. She enjoys being with Haynes but is conflicted. The final chapter reveals a secret, the source of her conflict, and her steps towards a new freedom.

An Upside-Down Skys cast of characters, including their Namyanese guide, mirrors America: straight, gay, gender-fluid, black, brown, white, progressive, conservative, artistic, repressed, old, young. Some of them accept Nanyams charming faade at face value, while others seek to understand the countrys brutal repression by the military and ongoing ethnic conflicts. And most, resistant as they might be to change, are transformed by their time there.

Reviews

2023 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite in General Fiction

Brilliant! Sly humor, pathos, love, snappy dialogue, and unforgettable characters in an exotic settingI was right there with Linda Dahls quirky group of upscale travelers as they aired their prickly personalities and petty squabbles while tromping barefoot through Buddhist temples and shrines. Not just an engaging read, An Upside-Down Sky offers a bonus: a clear-eyed view of the volatile politics and ethnic conflicts of a fictional south Asian country thats a stand-in for Burma.
Joan Duncan Oliver, author of Buddhism: An Introduction to the Buddhas Life, Teachings, and Practices

Author Bio

Linda Dahl began her career as a travel journalist and college teacher before turning to writing full time. An award-winning author, she has written groundbreaking books about women in jazz and womens needs in recovery from addiction, as well as five works of fiction. She is currently at work on a screenplay and a new novel. She has two children, a cat, and too many plants. She lives in Riverdale in New York City.