Midnight Robber
Front cover
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| Author | Nalo Hopkinson |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | |
| Publisher | Warner Aspect |
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Publication date
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2000 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 336 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 42397150 |
| 813/.54 21 | |
| LC Class | PR9199.3.H5927 M53 2000 |
Midnight Robber is a science fiction bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel) by Jamaican-Canadian writer Nalo Hopkinson. Warner Aspect published the novel in 2000.
The novel is set in the far future, where interplanetary and alternate-dimension travel is possible. In addition, an Internet-like information system, known as “Granny Nanny”, dominates daily life, with each person being injected with nanomites that allow mental access to Granny Nanny at birth. This access takes the form of an eshu, a mental voice within the head that provides information upon request and operates as a sort of sixth sense. The use of Granny Nanny is so widespread that the word has somewhat of a religious overtone (characters will often swear to Granny Nanny, for example). The story is eventually revealed to be narrated by Granny Nanny, speaking to Tan-Tan’s child as he is being born.
The book’s protagonist is Tan-Tan Habib, a seven-year-old girl living in Cockpit County on the Carib-colonized planet of Toussaint (named for Toussaint Louverture), with her father Antonio and mother Ione. The story begins during Carnival season, of which the highlight for Tan-Tan is the Robber Kings: performers who dress up as the mythical figure of the Robber King and tell exaggerated, boastful tales of their adventures. Antonio (an adulterer himself) discovers that Ione has been having an affair. After driving out the lover and separating from Ione and Tan-Tan (who becomes distraught over the incident, blaming herself for Antonio’s abandonment), he then challenges his wife’s lover to a duel for her honor during Jour Ouvert. During the duel Antonio ends up killing the lover with a poisoned machete blade, causing him to have to escape Toussaint; he takes Tan-Tan with him.
The two take a shift portal to New Half-Way Tree, an alternate universe version of Toussaint that serves as a place of exile for convicts. They are met by Chichibud, a douen (one of several alien species on New Half-Way Tree), who takes them to the nearest human settlement, Junjuh Village, run harshly by One-Eye the sheriff and his deputy Claude through a system of punishment (being locked in a tin box for several hours at a time) and death (hanging).
Tan-Tan eventually adjusts to life in New Half-Way Tree, growing familiar with the other locals of the town such as Michael and Gladys the local blacksmiths, and Janisette, her father’s new wife. She even befriends the local boy Melonhead, and together the two plan to move to Sweet Pone together, a better settlement on New Half-Way Tree. As Tan-Tan grows older, her father slowly slides into alcoholism and depression until he takes to beating and raping Tan-Tan on a regular basis.
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