Midnight at the Electric

Midnight at the Electric, published in 2017, is a speculative fiction novel written by Jodi Lynn Anderson and is the recipient of multiple awards and nominations. Anderson is an American children’s author who has worked as an editor for HarperCollins and a writing instructor at the University of North Carolina.

Midnight at the Electric follows three protagonists across three different timelines. One of these, Adri Ortiz, lives in 2065 and has been accepted into a training program to become a Colonist on Mars. While staying with her previously unknown cousin, Lily Ortiz, Adri stumbles across an old diary and some letters, which introduce the characters Catherine Godspeed and Lenore Allstock into her life. Catherine, whose diary dates from 1934-1935, was a young woman living in Canaan, Kansas during the Dust Bowl. Lenore, who wrote to her friend Beth Godspeed in 1919 and 1920, was from Forest Row, England. Lenore lived through World War I and then left her home country to join Beth in Kansas. The novel explores diverse themes, including the concepts of environmental destruction, resilience, belonging, and the interconnectedness of human experiences over time and space.

This guide uses the eBook version of Midnight at the Electric published by HarperCollins in 2017.

Plot Summary

In the year 2065, Adri Ortiz leaves her hometown of Miami, which is now largely flooded, and drives twelve hours to reach the home of her cousin, Lily Vega in Canaan, Kansas. Adri is staying with Lily while training to become a Colonist on Mars. When Adri arrives, Lily is in bed but has left Adri directions to find her new bedroom. In the bedroom, Adri finds a postcard from Lenore Allstock to Beth Godspeed mentioning Galapagos. The next morning, Adri attempts to fix her car, but it won’t start. While exploring Lily’s homestead, Adri encounters a large tortoise named Galapagos. She returns inside to meet her cousin, 107-year-old Lily, for the first time. Their personalities contrast, Lily is talkative and friendly while Adri is blunt and cold. Lily, who has dementia, discusses their shared history and mentions that there is a packet of letters from the previous owners of the house somewhere in the home. Adri eventually finds the packet, and in one overnight sitting she reads the entirety of Catherine Godspeed’s diary and a series of letters from Lenore Allstock.

The story shifts to the events of Catherine’s diary, which begins in May of 1934. She, her mother Beth, her sister Beezie, and their farmhand Ellis, are living on the Godspeed’s homestead in Canaan, Kansas during the Dust Bowl. One day, Catherine finds a postcard from Lenore addressed to her mother, but Beth refuses to say much about Lenore, referring to her as an old friend. The area experiences multiple dust storms and Beezie develops a chronic cough from the dust. Galapagos, their young tortoise, fares well. Several families start disappearing, moving to different parts of the country to escape the Dust Bowl. The Ragbag Fair comes to town, and Catherine goes, attracted by the electric exhibit, which promises everlasting life. Ellis the farmhand gives Catherine money. She wants to take him to the fair, but the night they plan on going it rains, and Ellis kisses her. He confesses that he loves her; Catherine, too, has long loved Ellis. Later, Catherine takes Beezie to the Ragbag Fair and pays for Beezie to touch the electricity exhibit in an attempt to cure her dust pneumonia. Ellis catches them and is upset by Catherine’s frivolous use of the money, which took him a year to save. The treatment does not work, and Beezie’s health declines. After a terrible dust storm in which Beth is trapped outside, Beth gives Catherine a stack of letters from Lenore. The letters show Lenore is Catherine’s biological mother.

The story then shifts to Lenore’s letters to Beth, who moved away from England to the United States after World War I started, and who has recently become engaged with plans to move to Canaan, Kansas. Lenore writes that while searching for the Cave of the Cup, a cave where, as children, Beth told Lenore the Holy Grail was hidden, she came across a dilapidated cottage. She starts visiting the cottage, cleaning it, and leaving homey items, and she pretends Beth is there. One day, she notices smoke coming from the house and finds a large man named James inside with disfigurements from a severe injury. Although skeptical about sharing the house, Lenore agrees to let the man use it at night. He starts repairing the roof, and they each leave small tokens in the house in passing. One night, James comes to visit Lenore, and they drink and eat together at the cottage. Lenore invites James to the Fair of Lights in London just north of Forest Row, and he agrees to go. They enjoy themselves at the fair, but later back at the cottage, Lenore discovers James has been lying; he is not a wounded veteran but a criminal who fled military duty. Lenore writes that she is leaving for America to be with Beth.

Adri is frustrated when the diary and letters end without providing a satisfactory conclusion to the lives of Catherine and Lenore. She starts attending training, having to borrow Lily’s gas-powered SUV since her own vehicle is beyond repair. She checks the library for information on the farm’s previous occupants but finds only an article saying that Catherine and Beezie died and that Beth sold part of her land. Adri and Lily tour the nursing home where Lily will move when her dementia becomes too advanced for her to live on her own. Later, Adri meets with the Mars colony program director, Lamont, but he refuses to sign her contract yet, arguing he can tell Adri has unfinished business on Earth. After Lamont refuses to sign the contract, Adri stops at the local library archives to request information about the Godspeeds and Lenore but is upset to learn she may be on Mars by the time the results come back. To publicize the importance of the Mars trip, Adri and fellow trainees are sent on a press tour. Adri has a night of connection with her crewmates, who give her a cake for her belated birthday. When she returns to Lily’s, Adri finds Lily in a medical crisis. Lily is hospitalized for three days. On their way home from the hospital, Adri has the idea to check the bunkhouse floorboards where Catherine mentioned Ellis hid his treasures. She finds another stack of letters.

Lenore, writing in the spring of 1920, apologizes to Beth for not coming to America when she promised. She explains that she convinced herself to stay in England, and tried to create a normal life for herself. However, while in London with her mother, she ran into James. They had an encounter at the cottage later that night, and Lenore is now pregnant. She is already on her way to America to be with Beth.

Back in 1934, Catherine writes to Ellis. She has taken Beezie in the middle of the night and hitchhiked to New York. In New York, they find part of a room to rent, and Catherine starts working. However, she struggles to balance work with Beezie’s worsening health. Sofia Ortiz moves into the room. Having some medical knowledge, she helps Catherine mitigate Beezie’s dust pneumonia. Beezie continues to decline, developing a fever and landing in the hospital. Sofia comes to the hospital and helps calm Beezie by promising to name her first child after Beezie’s favorite flower—the lily. Beezie recovers, and Beth joins them in New York. Instead of returning home, the Godspeeds decide to travel to Forest Row to visit Lenore’s family. Catherine sends money to Ellis, hoping he will follow them, and the Godspeeds offer their family farm to Sofia, who lost her farm and father to the Dust Bowl.

Before leaving for Mars, Adri arranges to have Lamont fund Galapagos’s return to the wild. Adri and Lily spend their last night together watching television like it is any other day. In the morning, Lily goes with Adri to the launch. They say goodbye, with Adri giving Lily a letter to read later. Adri’s ship launches successfully. That night, Lily reads the letter. In it, Adri expresses her love for Lily and leaves behind her favorite letter from Lenore, which discusses the innocence of babies.