The End and Everything Before It
Finegan Kruckemeyer
Emma watched her mother’s kayak disappear among icebergs in the Arctic Sea. Six years later, her brother, who had not spoken since their mother was lost, warns Emma of the curse of death that she brought to anyone who looked on her face—before tragedy befalls him too.
Emma consigns herself to a solitary life at sea, where she can do no more harm. After years alone, she is mysteriously drawn to land. And she docks at an island, afraid of what her arrival might mean for the welcoming man and his daughter waving from the jetty.
But who knows where our stories begin and end or how they are entwined? Who knows whether now, on the island, she begins a new tale—or takes a role in a story that began generations ago with a feast in the forest, or a chest of gold coins plunged into the sea, or an orphan in a bookshop beguiled by an elusive and troubled woman?
Finegan Kruckemeyer’s astonishing debut, The End and Everything Before It, is a sweeping, joyous novel about love, loss and the power of stories—an uplifting journey into our deepest humanity.
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andThe End and Everything Before It
‘A startlingly optimistic work, a fable about making families and communities, about the practices that bring people together as the world wrenches them apart.’
‘This magical book honours the miracle of how people make people who become precious just to their chosen kin, just for a little while—before life continues on and sweeps us all along in its wake. It’s filled with a gentle acknowledgement of how we each suffer alone, but is also suffused with hope at how even the worst kinds of grief can be survived through loving connections with others. Bursting with wisdom and poetry, this novel reminds us that storytelling is a moral force—and a salve to every lost soul.’
‘Tender, lyrical, funny, devastating, The End and Everything Before It is a map of the miracles great and small that make up our lives.’
‘Mysterious, poetic, earthy and profound, The End and Everything Before It is a true delight, unlike anything I’ve ever read.’
‘Beautifully demonstrates how stories can connect and shape lives, transcending generations and geographical boundaries…Masterful storytelling and rich character development create an immersive reading experience that lingers in the mind even after the story concludes.Readers will be captivated by the deep exploration of human experiences and the significant role that memory and narrative play in shaping our perception of ourselves and those around us.’
‘Moving, profound and deeply layered…A triumphant melding of time and place, grief and love, and above all, the strength of the human spirit to counter tragedy with hope and endure.’
‘This is a novel unlike any other…It’s unputdownable, and in a world of angst-ridden fiction, it’s uplifting…Kruckemeyer’s female characters defy stereotypes…Quietly devastating.’
‘A profoundly tragicomic philosophy of life…Stories of death, love and grief collide in this book.’
‘A book that is as much a puzzle as it is a novel…[Explores] the deeper question of where do stories start and where do stories end? What is a story and when can we start to look at it as an entity? Puts tiles into a mosaic that creates a picture…A beautiful concept, a beautiful preoccupation.’
‘A lyrical story about the inevitability of events, of chance moments, of threads slowly woven together…The reward is a love story and a bit of magic…Kruckemeyer will crush your cynicism with a velvet glove. The novel’s climax might break your heart but you will be thankful for the reminder of the importance of life’s everyday miracles…A celebration of the natural world, a wonderful argument against capitalism and a welcome antidote to dark times.’
‘[A] beguiling debut…A parable of survival that attests to the value of resilient social bonds. We need writers who can anatomise the forces that are tearing our world apart—and we have them in abundance. Kruckemeyer has taken on a different task: envisioning what is required of us to build a world in which we can thrive.’
‘4.5 stars. Whimsical, lyrical, at the same time complex in its structure. Air of sophisticated fairytale, constructed by a master storyteller…At no time do you feel that these parables are trite or manufactured…It’s impossible to believe that this is [Kruckemeyer’s] debut novel…All you want from a novel.’
‘Childhood, the stories that families tell each other, the sea…We’re in the business of the stories that villages tell themselves…[The End and Everything Before It] erupts into an epic story of a colonised land, a story of landscape and multiple generations…A rewarding read.’
‘This is without question the best book I have read this year…It was simply a joy to read…Full of wisdom, poetry, humour, sadness and magic, The End and Everything Before It is a real pleasure…I’ll be very surprised and disappointed if it doesn’t get nominated for the Miles Franklin and other awards. By crikey, I’d like to see some of his plays, but I also hope Kruckemeyer keeps on writing novels.’
