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A propulsive and deeply moving novel about eternity and mortality that asks what it would mean to live forever.
Vera Van Valkenburgh hasn't been home in one hundred and eighty-eight years. But now Vera, forever twenty-six and able to heal from any wound, has returned to the Catskills. Whatever made her family immortal happened here, and if she can uncover it, maybe she can reverse it. After nearly two centuries—an endless sequence of unnoticed, meaningless lives and a soul-shaking incident in the desert—she longs to be released.
Posing as a newly arrived forest ranger, she quickly blends into the upstate community and learns of something curious and disturbing. A mysterious, well-funded company is snapping up local property, no matter how high the asking price. But when her brother, a fellow immortal shows up, accompanied by a woman whose face is incredibly familiar to Vera, the purpose for her return gets clouded and Vera is in a race against time to find out what has caused her condition before someone else does.
Blending the spectacular with the everyday in a tale filled with humor and warmth, The Fountainexplores what gives life meaning and how our understandings of our histories shape—and cage—us.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (4/16/2026)
...n centered around the Intercontinental Hotel Kabul. It will most definitely be one of my favorite books of the year. I am about to start the audio of The Fountain by Casey Scieszka. Not sure what I'm going to find here. I think it is marketed in the fantasy genre. I'm also part-time reading ( alongside the massive Tom's Crossing...
-Anne_Glasgow
"As psychologically rich as it is philosophically probing, Scieszka's book offers readers a heady blend of imagination, mystery, and finely crafted storytelling. A provocative novel that incisively explores the question of what makes a meaningful life." —Kirkus Reviews
"Riveting...Scieszka adds gentle humor and romance to the tense plot, as Vera settles into her new life among bougie urban transplants and falls for a rugged local EMT. Readers will find plenty to admire." —Publishers Weekly
"Author Scieszka's debut is a classic tale of immortality with a modern twist...A small-town mystery with a dash of historical fiction and romance, this book is perfect for readers of V. E. Schwab's The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue." —Booklist
"This historical fantasy includes elements of a thriller that keep readers captivated and guessing until the last moment... This debut is perfect for fans of Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab. A great addition to every library's fantasy collection." —Library Journal
"Casey Scieszka's debut novel is absolutely delicious, like Tuck Everlasting for grown-ups. The premise is so good—an immortal woman's search for the fountain of youth—that the writing, crisp and funny, feels like an extra treat. An excellent debut." —Emma Straub, bestselling author of This Time Tomorrow
"Casey Scieszka's The Fountain is a meditation on beauty, nature, and what in our lives can be bought and sold (and at what cost). Hilarious yet tender, Scieszka's alluring voice shines on the page as she guides us through the joys and pains of never growing old amongst the majestic landscape of the Catskills. Here is a page-turner of a novel that is book club-ready, a frothy combination of magical realism, the foibles of modern life, an examination of the influence of big tech, along with a wallop of small town heart." —Isaac Fitzgerald, New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts
This information about The Fountain 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.
Casey Scieszka is a born and raised Brooklynite who has lived in Beijing, San Francisco, Fez, and Timbuktu where she was a Fulbright Scholar. In 2013 she and her husband, artist Steven Weinberg, moved to the Catskill Mountains and opened the Spruceton Inn: a Catskills Bed & Bar, which runs an annual Artist Residency hosting world-renowned painters, bestselling authors, and Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists.
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