A sudden shift in the Earth's rotation wreaks havoc over the globe as days and nights grow longer, gravity is affected, and the environment is thrown into disarray. Author of Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker, visits Sounds Good to discuss her novel about coming of age against the backdrop of an utterly altered world.
On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, and the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life -- the fissures in her parents' marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.
Karen Thompson Walker was born and raised in San Diego, California, where The Age of Miracles is set. A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, she wrote The Age of Miracles in the mornings before work; sometimes while riding the subway. She is the recipient of the 2011 Sirenland Fellowship as well as a Bomb Magazine fiction prize.
For more information on Age of Miracles, visit Karen Thompson Walker's website.