Welcome to my blog, "On the Beaten Path," by Kathy.

Today I am going to review a book I recently read and found myself wanting more from a first-time novelist, whose story both rattled and broke me down, tear by tear, smile by smile.

"The Age of Miracles," by Karen Thompson Walker, chronicles the coming of age of an adolescent girl in the dawning days of a dystopian world -- a world where hope is a lost concept and pandemic insanity sweeps the Earth as a major yet unknown rift shifts the planet's magnetic field.

In order to keep her sanity, navigate through puberty, and watch her once dynamic family unspool before her eyes, young Julia attempts to seek solace through her friends and daily routines. But as the Earth's rotation slows, days grow incrementally longer and Julia's friends abandon her, and combating the temptation to give in to the prolific madness and drop out of society becomes an increasingly formidable endeavor.

This is a dark and sometimes chilling story but is told with a tender yet fiercely determined voice. When I finished it I wanted to reach through the pages of the book, grab the author by the hand and say, "I want more!" There were times I quite literally could not put down this book. I loved it -- Walker's prose speaks to us intelligently, as we are thrown into a world of chaos under grace.

5-12-2013