Book Tour & GIVEAWAY: ‘The Age of Miracles’ by Karen Thompson Walker

The Age of Miracles

by Karen Thompson Walker

Random House

Pub. Date:   June 26, 2012

Book received from: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

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The Age of Miracles is being lauded as one of the best books of the year by nearly every critic and literary reviewer.   After a feisty bidding war for the publishing rights, Random House won out with a reportedly one million dollar publishing deal, as well as a movie option.  With so much riding on this book, is Walker able to deliver a work that is worthy of such a mighty sum?   The answer, simply, is:  yes, indeed.

The story follows 11-year-old Julia through the discovery that the earth is slowing its rotation, creating longer and longer days as the book unfolds.  With some declaring end times and apocalypses, others are determined to live their lives as though there is no change at all.  What becomes clear throughout is that even though the days may be longer, life still moves at a certain pace, and the connections that are made are still what holds it all together.

That may sound like a somewhat simple synopsis, but this story, although quietly told, is anything but simple.  Walker has a way of writing that brings to mind Jeffery Eugenides , Jeanette Winterson, and Alice Sebold.  There is a story that is being told, but the impact and beauty is in the details within.  With an evenly paced, quiet tone, it is clear that young Julia must learn to adapt to all the changes in her world, regardless of how long the nights may be.  By the end of the story, it becomes evident that it is not the earthquakes in one’s life that define them, but rather how one goes about picking up the pieces.

The Age of Miracles is a love story, but there is no real romance.  It is about the connections we make in life, about letting go of everything you thought you knew, about adapting to the world around you.  It is about the ordinary hidden in the chaos of the extraordinary.  It is about one girl’s life in the midst of it all.  Walker delivers a story that is full of imagination, yet firmly grounded in the realities of everyday life.  If there is one book that you should not miss this year, The Age of Miracles is it.

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Random House has generously offered a copy of ‘The Age of Miracles’ for one lucky reader.  To be entered, simply comment below & tell me what your favorite book has been this year thus far, with your e-mail address in the comment.  

Must be at least 13-years-old and live in the US/CAN.  I will pick a winner by random June 30, 2012.

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Check out the entire blog tour calendar.

‘The Age of Miracles’ can be purchased at Amazon.com, as well as your local independent bookseller.

For more about Karen Thompson Walker, go to her website here.