books

Stronghold

“Exquisite… This book isn’t just about fish; it’s about life itself and the fragile, unseen threads that connect all creatures.” —HAMPTON SIDES, author of In the Kingdom of Ice and Blood and Thunder

In the tradition of Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Orchid Thief, Stronghold is Tucker Malarkey’s gripping chronicle of an unlikely visionary and his crusade to protect the world’s last bastion for wild salmon. From a young age, Guido Rahr was a misfit among his family and classmates, preferring to spend his time in the natural world. An obsessive fly-fisherman, Rahr noticed when the salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest began to decline—and was one of the few who understood why. As dams, industry, and climate change degraded the homes of these magnificent fish, Rahr saw that the salmon of the Pacific Rim were destined to go the way of their Atlantic brethren: near extinction.

An improbable and inspiring story, Stronghold takes us on a wild adventure, from Oregon to Alaska to one of the world’s last remaining salmon strongholds in the Russian Far East, a landscape of ecological richness and diversity that is rapidly being developed for oil, gas, minerals, and timber. And along the way Rahr must navigate a tangled web of scientists, conservationists, Russian oligarchs, corrupt officials, impenetrable bureaucracies, and unexpected allies in order to set into motion a plan to secure the survival of the endangered salmon, an extraordinary keystone species whose demise would reverberate across the planet. 

Tucker Malarkey, who accompanies Rahr to the Russian wilderness and reports on events from up close, has written a clarion call for a sustainable future, a remarkable work of natural history, and a riveting account of a species whose future is closely linked to that of our own.

PRAISE FOR STRONGHOLD

“Captivating . . . Malarkey effortlessly glides between topics, making for an excellent mix of adventure, geopolitical deal making, and ecological and environmental reporting.” —Publishers Weekly

“A crazy good, intensely lived book that reads like an international thriller—only it’s our beloved salmon playing the part of diamonds or oil or gold.” —David James Duncan, author of The River Why and The Brothers K

“A powerful and inspiring story. Guido Rahr’s mission to save the wild Pacific salmon leads him into adventures that make for a breathtakingly exciting read.”—Ian Frazier, author of Travels in Siberia

“[Stronghold] serves up environmental writing as clear as the world’s most pristine waters. . . . Ms. Malarkey has pulled off the rather remarkable feat of capturing her unusual cousin and his mission in words—the journalistic equivalent of snagging an elusive, 80- pound trophy taimen on a fly.” —The Wall Street Journal

“The Melvillian showdown between this extraordinary man and his equally extraordinary quarry forms the climax of Stronghold. . . . Rahr’s passion for salmon is contagious, and Malarkey channels it well. . . . [She] is a novelist by trade, and it shows.” —Nate Blakeslee, The New York Times Book Review

MORE PRAISE …

Resurrection

A lost past. A hidden Gospel. A shocking discovery. 

Translated into eight languages, Resurrection draws on actual events surrounding the discovery of the Lost Gospels of Nag Hammadi. Suppressed by officials of the early Church, these sacred texts disappeared nearly two thousand years ago and were rediscovered unexpectedly in the 1940s in the desert south of Cairo. Around these remarkable events, Tucker Malarkey has crafted a suspenseful and eye-opening tale of love and war, religion and murder.

It's 1948, and British nurse Gemma Bastian travels to Cairo to close the affairs of her late father, staying at the home of David Lazar, her father's oldest friend, and his enigmatic sons. While she's there she stumbles across her father's last and most closely guarded archaeological project, one that could change the Christian world forever: the discovery of the legendary Lost Gospels. Torn between two brothers and beset by ominous warnings, Gemma finds herself caught in an intricate web of love and betrayal where she fights to resurrect her own shattered life and a faith that was lost to all of humanity.

PRAISE

“One of the most stimulating books I’ve read all year… This thinking-person’s Da Vinci Code has a wonderful heroine who discovers her late father’s work with the Nag Hammadi Gospels in post-World War II Egypt".” - NPR, Alan Cheuse, All Things Considered

"An irresistible heroine... and an immensely suspenseful novel." - Margot Livesey

“Engrossing…Loosely based on the mid-1940s discovery of the Gnostic Gospels at Nag Hammadi, Resurrection is bound to be compared with Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code … The chief difference between Brown and Malarkey is the healing spiritual dimension that Malarkey brings to her story.” - The Seattle Times

“Resurrection weaves the discovery of the Gnostic gospels not an elegantly written thriller.” -People

"Resurrection is a story of renewed faith inspired by Gospels said to have been squelched by early Christian leaders. But Resurrection is also the story of the brave Gemma who, because she's a woman, and a stubborn one at that, must fight social, cultural, and religious restrictions to pursue the events surrounding her father's death... Malarkey writes deftly about spiritual discovery, and the religious history she weaves into her story gives the novel heft." - USA Today

"Although some readers may enjoy Malarkey's novel simply as a literary thriller, many will find themselves wrestling with theological conundrums. In fact, controversy will surely surround this novel, as readers who hail it as a daring expose clash with those who see it as a slander against their faith." - Booklist

"An absorbing fictional account of the discovery, history, and repression of the 'Lost Gospels' found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt in the 1940's." - Library Journal