Hana Andronikova's second, and unfortunately last novel, was published
nine years after the success of her first book The Sound of the
Sundial. Andronikova herself admitted that in Heaven Has No Ground,
the character of Ama, a self-proclaimed "bio-gal" and "alter-nativist"
is somewhat autobiographical as she tries come to terms with the death
of her father and with her own cruel diagnosis of breast cancer. Through
this intimate story Ama records her battle with the terrible disease.
But it is not one that takes place in a hospital bed, but rather on
journey with a backpack that leads to the shamans of the Amazon jungle
in Peru, to the native Americans of the Nevada Desert, and then finally
to the Middle East. Andronikova doesn't shy way from expressing that
feeling of raw anxiety upon her return home when she ultimately faces
the decision to accept modern medical treatment or not. But the book is
much more than a young woman's battle with cancer, it is a witty and
colorful narrative of searching for oneself and accepting one's fate.
Andronikova does this with a unique style filled with raspy metaphors, a
melody of language, and with an a associative string of playful words
that borders surrealism.
