Karen Thompson Walker - The Age of Miracles

Financial Times“A slow burner...” This book got extraordinary pre-publication buzz (UK rights alone sold for £500,000). Yet what sets Thompson Walker apart from other “coming of agers”, doomy or otherwise, is the very opposite of hyperbole – a sparse, compelling writing style.

Evening Standard“Thompson Walker starts various promising narrative threads...” The problem is that while a coming-of-age novel might be forgiven for drifting to a stop without much in the way of resolution, a reader expects something more conclusive when science fiction is involved...

Time Out New York“Sensitive bildungsroman in a sci-fi future...” Although Julia has neither the spunk nor the irreverence of Harper Lee’s Scout Finch, Walker’s tone can be properly Lee-esque; both Julia and Scout grapple with the standard childhood difficulties as their societies crumble around them...

The Telegraph“A striking portrayal of the beauty and horror of adolescence... ” The Age of Miracles is a gentle reminder of what adolescents learn and adults try to forget – that the world is alarmingly mysterious and that the talismans of modernity are no defence against the miracles or calamities of love and loss...

Guardian“Readers will be intrigued...” But for this reader at least, it is mildly depressing that so nimble, delicate and emotionally sophisticated a novel should find itself burdened by such sci-fi oafishness...

The New York Times“Precocious debut...” Julia's voice turns what might have been just a clever mash-up of disaster epic with sensitive young-adult, coming-of-age story into a genuinely moving tale that mixes the real and surreal, with impressive fluency and flair...

Publishers Weekly“Gripping debut...” A triumph of vision, language, and terrifying momentum, the story also feels eerily plausible, as if the problems we’ve been worrying about all along pale in comparison to what might actually bring our end...