Heaven Has No Ground

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.