Night Navigation, a novel by Ginnah Howard

Paperback cover image of the novel 'Night Navigation'

Night Navigation, first published in 2009, is the second novel of a trilogy. Each novel is written to stand alone. Book 3, Doing Time Outside was published in August, 2013. Book 1, Rope & Bone, was released in July, 2014.

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Hardcover image of the novel 'Night Navigation'

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Night Navigation

Night Navigation opens on a black-ice night in upstate New York: Mark Merrick has lined up a bed near the Canadian border to begin detoxing from a heroin addiction. With his license suspended and unable to get a ride, Mark’s mother, Del, with much trepidation, agrees to make the long drive north.

Through the four seasons, Night Navigation takes us into the deranged, darkly humorous world of the addict—from break-your-arm-dealers, to boot-camp rehabs, to Rumi-spouting NA sponsors. Al-Anon tells Del to “Let go;” NAMI says “Hang on.” And yet, all during this long year’s night of relapse and despair, always there are those random flare-ups of hope as Mark and Del steer toward the light.

Alternating Voices of Night Navigation >

“As Night Navigation undulates between Del’s point of view and Mark’s, Howard lets their tense interactions and inability to communicate propel the novel, never attempting to rationalize their problems or forcing them to succumb to psychoanalytic clichés.”

— New York Times Book Review,
An Editor’s Choice, July 5, 2009

“Night Navigation. . . is so smooth a telling of a rough ride that you’d think it was the author’s fourth, fifth or sixth book, not her first. . . even greater is the fact that she was able to take us with her. Ginnah Howard is a writer to watch.”

— The Washington Times Book Review,
May 5, 2009

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