Kathryn's Inbox

Something strange is happening in Santa Lora, a small college town in Southern California. It starts when one girl experiences flu like symptoms, falls asleep and cannot be woken. Soon other residents of the college begin to fall asleep, as do other residents of the town. As the virus sweeps through the town, so does fear, panic and the need to survive at all costs. Beautifully written, this novel was an utterly captivating story about an icky subject. Through her many characters from isolated student Mei, to pregnant victim Rebecca, to young parents Annie and Ben, to Libby and Sara the children of a conspiracy theorist, through to the ageing Nathaniel whose story takes a very different twist, we experience the many sides to this strange phenomena, which in many ways echoes the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014.  And the whole thing is fascinating. Much like Nevil Schute's novel about the end of the world, On the Beach , many characters find a newfound sense of purpose ...

The Age of Miracles is a clever coming-of-age novel set against a surprising backdrop--the end of the world. On a Saturday morning, eleven year old Julia wakes up and discovers that the earth is slowing down. The earth no longer spins as quickly as it used to and is becoming slower with every turn. The inhabitants of planet earth are on borrowed time and no one knows when earth will finally stop. Interwoven between disastrous efforts by the human race to cope (including the controversial 'clock time' which no longer reflects the length of actual days, and attempts to flee, but with nowhere to go,) is Julia's own coming of age which includes a betrayal by a supposed best friend, her first love and an unsavoury discovery about her father. Much like the slowing of the earth, the narrative is slow and thoughtful. I enjoyed reading this one, despite its depressing premise, for its meditations on human nature and the (often flawed) way that people try to cope in the face ...