Imaginative, moody, brilliantly written—vintage Kingsnorth, that is, and a boon for readers of speculative fiction.
Kingsnorth completes his quirky trilogy of novels set in the Norfolk fens with a post-apocalyptic story of the far future.
As The Wake (2015) opened with events of a thousand years ago, so Kingsnorth’s latest opens a millennium from now, “nine hunnerd years since Atlantis fell, since Alexandria was built.” His protagonists are part tribe, part religious community who survive in the marshes after civilization’s collapse and remember the distant past in chants and invocations: “Now World shall be as it should / For Machine is come” they sing of “the reign of Man.” They are not alone in the fens: A “Catt”—the hidden, dangerous figure that lurks in both The Wake and Beast (2017)—has been spotted, scaring some but not all; says an awestruck character named El, “every day now i am goin to Tree and lookin for him.” Kingsnorth’s characters speak in patois, blending prose poem and verse, calling to mind Russell Hoban. When the young acolyte named Lorenso comes into contact with another lurker, though, a red-cloaked figure of monstrous visage called K., the language shifts into the sturdy standard English of the present. The reasons aren’t quite clear for that, but Kingsnorth deserves points for the hat trick of writing the three novels in the series in distinct linguistic registers that suggest past, present, and future. K. instructs Lorenzo in the error of human ways: “Man was tempted, Man took power over all life. This is your fragmentary, mythologised version of what happened more than a millennium ago. You have now seen a little of what the exercise of that power amounted to.” He promises the rewards that the celestial city of Alexandria and its divine ruler, Wayland, offer, but alas, that god appears to be dead or just not listening, and the shape-shifting, quick-thinking K. finds himself stuck with the rest of what has survived of the tribe, moored in the muck and mire, but to oddly optimistic ends.
Imaginative, moody, brilliantly written—vintage Kingsnorth, that is, and a boon for readers of speculative fiction.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64445-035-2
Page Count: 408
Publisher: Graywolf
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
A touching novel about loss with a magical and mystical flourish.
A young man helps the living and dead meet one last time under the full moon.
Japanese bestseller Tsujimura’s quiet novel follows a mysterious teenager known as the go-between, who can set up meetings between the living and the dead. An introverted woman wants to meet the television star with whom she has a parasocial relationship. A cynical eldest son hopes to visit his mother about their family business. A devastated high schooler fears she is responsible for her friend’s tragic death. And, finally, a middle-aged workaholic finally feels ready to find out if his fiancée, who disappeared seven years ago, is dead. Each character has a uniquely personal reason for seeking out the deceased, including closure and forgiveness, as well as selfishness and fear. Imbued with magic and the perfect amount of gravitas, there are many rules around these meetings: Only the living can make requests and they can only have one meeting per lifetime. Additionally, the dead can deny a meeting—and, most importantly, once the dead person has met with a living person, they will be gone forever. With secrets shared, confessions made, and regrets cemented, these meetings lead to joy and sorrow in equal measure. In the final chapter, all of these visits—and their importance in the go-between’s life—begin to gracefully converge. As we learn the go-between’s identity, we watch him struggle with the magnitude and gravity of his work. At one point, he asks: “When a life was lost, who did it belong to? What were those left behind meant to do with the incomprehensible, inescapable loss?” Though the story can be repetitive, Tsujimura raises poignant and powerful questions about what the living owe not only the dead, but each other; and how we make peace with others and ourselves in the wake of overwhelming grief.
A touching novel about loss with a magical and mystical flourish.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781668099834
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
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