Description

An electrifying debut novel about a young woman and her desire for sleaze, whose idyllic summer on a remote Alaskan homestead takes a disturbing turn.

“Sexy and dark and strange and absolutely perfect.”
Carmen Maria Machado

“Puppy love meets jaded lust to dance their death spiral inside a young woman’s head … I ate it up.”
Nell Zink

Tourists arrive all summer, by boat or seaplane, at Stu and Maureen Jenkins’s Lavender Island Wilderness Lodge in the Kodiak Archipelago, expecting adventure. But the spontaneity of their authentic Alaskan wilderness experience is meticulously scripted, except when real danger rears its head. Stu and Maureen’s lodge is failing, as is their marriage.

Mira has been hired for the season as the lodge’s baker and housekeeper. But she’s also busy gleefully nursing twin obsessions: building a working theory of what constitutes ‘sleaze’ and pursuing a young fisherman she deems the embodiment of all things deliciously sleazy. Her plans become more perverse and elaborate, even as life on Lavender Island starts to unravel.

By midseason, it becomes clear that Stu, the jovial, predatory patriarch of the lodge, has turned his sexual attentions to another young employee. As the mood of the lodge spirals into chaos, the inhabitants realize just how isolated Lavender Island really is.

Hilarious, sensual, and charged with menace, The Seaplane on Final Approach brilliantly illuminates the mirage-thin line between the artificial and the feral. In this daring and psychologically razor-sharp debut, Rukeyser’s characters tear aside the facade of good manners to reveal all of our deepest needs and naked desires.

Publisher Review

I didn't realize how much I needed this lusty, funny, heart-breaking book until I devoured it in a single sitting... A sharp, flawless debut -- Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties An age-old story-puppy love meets jaded lust to dance their death spiral inside a young woman's head-told with the shameless authenticity of 2022. I ate it up -- Nell Zink Original and adventurous, horny and hilarious-it's everything I want from a book. -- Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch Brilliant and possibly the horniest thing I've ever read. But this is Advanced Horniness, the kind that can see the sex in phone book listings, vicarious jealousy, five thousand dollars, and the cold devouring ocean -- Tony Tulathimutte, author of Private Citizens A tender trickster of a novel, told with humor, insight and just the right amount of raunch ... Read it now. -- Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House A kind of anti-coming of age ballad, a celebration of taking the wrong paths in life, the beauty of what mistakes can teach us about ourselves -- Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl Funny, sensual, elegiac, and phenomenally perceptive ... this novel is not to be missed -- Tom Drury, author of Pacific The Seaplane on Final Approach is so much fun; astute, and so evocative of the obsessive yearning of young adulthood, the narratives we devise then hopelessly fall into as we're trying to make sense of the world -- Lisa McInerney * author of The Glorious Heresies * There's plenty of comedy here... the humour gains a more mature and melancholy edge... When the end comes, it's catastrophic, as well as lengthy, gruesome fun * Daily Telegraph * Painfully recognisable adolescent yearning... A deftly juggled mix of mercilessly sharp character judgment and gentle compassion for each person's failings... definitely one for readers who enjoy the sort of dive into dysfunction championed by Ottessa Moshfegh * The Times * Assured, elegant... [Rukeyser] create[s] a taut atmosphere * Irish Times * An illuminating and magical coming-of-age story * Daily Mail * Arresting... a jaunty, perfectly paced and exceptionally well-written coming-of-age story... Slyly funny, with just the right touch of darkness to take the edge off * TLS *