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Alice LaPlante's acclaimed psychological thrillers are distinguished by their stunning synthesis of family drama and engrossing suspense. Her new novel is an affecting foray deeper into the creases of family life - and the light-and-dark battle of faith - as LaPlante delves into the barbed psyche of a teenager whose misguided convictions bear irrevocable consequences.
Never one to conform, Anna always had trouble fitting in. Earnest and willful, as a young girl she quickly learned how to hide her quirks from her parents and friends. But when, at sixteen, a sudden melancholia takes hold of her life, she loses her sense of self and purpose. Then the Goldschmidts move in next door. They're active members of a religious cult, and Anna is awestruck by both their son, Lars, and their fervent violent prophecies for the Tribulation at the End of Days. Within months, Anna's life - her family, her home, her very identity - will undergo profound changes. But when her newfound beliefs threaten to push her over the edge, she must find her way back to center with the help of unlikely friends. An intimate story of destruction and renewal, New York Times bestselling author LaPlante delivers a haunting exploration of family legacies, devotion, and tangled relationships.
With a satirist's eye and fleet, insightful prose, LaPlante delivers gratifying if somewhat foreseeable twists in one girl's search for salvation." - Kirkus
"LaPlante's rich themes of faith and doubt, vision and blindness, emerge compellingly as the early parts ofthe story build. Though the second half is less focused and strains credibility, Anna's dramatic journey toward authentic selfhood raises interesting questions." - Publishers Weekly
"Anna's contradictions - her vulnerability and her tendency for making dangerous choices - make her hard to love and her story hard to put down." - Library Journal
This information about Coming of Age at the End of Days was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo credit: Anne Knudsen
Alice LaPlante is an award-winning writer who teaches at San Francisco State University and Stanford University, where she was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship and held a Jones Lectureship. Raised in Chicago, she now lives with her family in Northern California.
Author Interview
Link to Alice LaPlante's Website
Name Pronunciation
Alice LaPlante: La Plant (the final 'e' is silent)
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