Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive 

From its cover, displaying an egret basking in a vibrant sunset over the water, to its final pages, Grace Flahive’s Palm Meridian celebrates queer joy against the speculative backdrop of turbulent, isolating times. Prose rarely makes me laugh aloud, but Flahive’s debut novel is sharp with tactile wit, and she brilliantly balances cheeky whimsy and emotional vulnerability. I found tears on my sun-soaked face at times while reading, and I wish I could bring Palm Meridian back to the beach and experience it again for the first time. 

In the year 2067, Earth’s climate has been rendered mostly hostile, and society hangs on by mangled threads. Present day normalcies like stable internet connection, good food and wine, and air travel are luxuries only the wealthy can afford. While much of Southern Florida is submerged and uninhabitable, Palm Meridian Retirement Resort is a functional, colourful, and thriving sapphic haven. It has been home to Hannah Cardin for a decade, but following the diagnosis of terminal cancer, Hannah has decided today is her last day, and plans a celebratory goodbye party for all her pals and found-family. She also dares to invite the estranged love of her young life she never got over: Sophie. The story oscillates between the silly shenanigans of Hannah’s final day at the resort and her sprawling collection of memories. Will Sophie come to the party for a face-to-face reunion? We wait in anticipation with Hannah, and get “lost in a landscape of the last half century” alongside her.

By alternating between the past and present, Flahive crafts an embellished world, excitingly paced. We are equally engrossed in the events of Hannah’s early life and the conflicting emotions she processes as her party draws near. The flashbacks explore her humble start in Montreal – “She had a roving hunger to fix, to take apart, to build, to make new” – and weave through her upbringing, relationships, and travels like candid polaroids, strung up with warm lights. Each setting and phase of Hannah’s life is embellished and layered, and portrayed with true-to-life nuance as her worldview and ideas take shape and shift. While her perspectives change with time, one quality never weakens: Hannah always takes the opportunity to extend grace and generosity where many people would display self-interest. When her career in environmentally-friendly heating and cooling technology takes off, it feels destined from her beginning in Montreal, and her generosity in the face of good fortune fortifies the hopefulness underscoring this novel.

Moreover, queerness is conveyed as uncomplicated, expansive, and worth celebrating in the world of Palm Meridian. Queerness is not a source of strife or contention in an already contentious setting, but a gift: an unmovable source of solace, connection, and groundedness. The queer dynamics that evolve in Hannah’s life showcase flaws, quirks, fears, mistakes, and capacity for forgiveness. They also emphasize the unfixed and largely undefinable nature of identity and relationships, and reminds us there is more fulfillment and contentment to be gained than lost by approaching our bonds unapologetically and authentically.

How can a future that has realized some major climate-crisis predictions possibly glimmer with hope the way Palm Meridian does? Community in all its and unglorious facets is a soft landing for a hard-hitting, not-so-far-fetched reality. All of Flahive’s characters – much like the versatility of her humorous prose – wade deep beneath the glistening surface, and work to foster security and optimism despite all odds. Palm Meridian asks: if we expand our circles outward, share ideas and resources freely, and face difficult conversations head on, how can we not feel important, connected, and equipped to brace whatever’s coming? 

Hannah Briggs

Hannah Briggs (she/her) is a writer and reader settled on Treaty 6 land in London, Ontario. Themes of social justice and equity, mental wellness, and queer identities and relationships motivate her most deeply. She enjoys reading by the water, people-watching at the market, and being a "guncle" to her roommates’ mischievous cats.